I've seen bits and pieces of this over the years, and in isolation nearly every scene is almost perfect, but somehow in its complete form the movie feels a little ramshackle to me. I think it's the ex-wife subplot, and Betty Buckley acting a kind of shrill that burns the roof of your mouth, and Ellen Barkin being not altogether persuasive as the offspring of rowdy country-and-western singers. That ending, though: Mac asks the heavens why her and not me, and then his introverted stepson offers to toss the football around with him; does he realize this the answer to his prayers? God, I hope so.

You either die an Enid or you live long enough to see yourself become a Seymour.

Kathy Bates has this beautiful moment at the end of the film where she worries about living alone with her husband of 35+ years for the first time in decades "because what if he doesn't like me?" It made me angry that I'd spent the last 100 minutes watching this movie instead of that one.