Alice (Ryan), a school counselor, and Michael (Garcia), an airline pilot, appear to be Happily Married at first (his first marriage, her second), but what Michael doesn't know is Alice is an alcoholic. Soon, however, it becomes clear to him after various incidents, including when she locks herself out of her own house, or the times she's hungover in the morning. Eventually, Alice hits rock bottom when she slaps her oldest daughter Jess (Majorino) and, not long after, falls through the shower door. Alice ends up going to rehab and getting better, but unbeknownst to her and Michael, that's where the real trouble with their marriage begins.
This movie provides examples of:
- The Alcoholic: Alice, natch. At the AA ceremony she attends at the end, she reveals her father was an alcoholic as well.
- Armor-Piercing Question: When Casey asks Michael, "What's an alcoholic?", Michael hems and haws in answering the question (to be fair, she's only four years old, and Children Are Innocent). It's left to Jess to tell her.
- Bait-and-Switch: At the beginning of the movie, during The Teaser, a man tries to pick up Alice at a café when Michael bursts in, asking Alice to take care of his laundry. We're meant to think he's just a random guy approaching Alice out of nowhere, and Alice treats him as such, until he promises to make her carrot cake, which is her favorite food. Then Alice and Michael kiss each other, and start to discuss their kids, which clues us in to the fact (a) this is a game they play, and (b) at first glance, are Happily Married.
- Book Ends: The movie ends with Michael pretending once again to be some random guy when he unexpectedly shows up at Alice's AA ceremony, telling her how moved he was by her speech.
- Children Are Innocent: Invoked when the family is watching videos of Alice and Michael's wedding, and Jess tells Casey Alice was pregnant with her at the wedding:Casey: How did I get in there?
Michael: That's a whole other set of videos.
Jess: And they won't let us watch those. - Creator Cameo: Al Franken, who co-wrote the movie, appears in an uncredited role as a pilot.
- Cut His Heart Out with a Spoon: Played for Laughs; when Alice forbids Jess to visit her friend because she hasn't done her homework, Michael overrules Alice, telling Jess she can visit her friend as long as she does her homework that day. When Jess asks what the difference is, Michael says it's the difference between him helping her and him pulling her lungs out through her chest, which makes Jess laugh.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Michael gets very upset when he sees Alice bonding with one of her fellow addicts, as he thinks it means something else entirely (though it's also hinted he's jealous of the fact Alice is able to confide in other people and not with him).
- Grey-and-Gray Morality: Neither Alice nor Michael are completely good or completely bad. Alice does love her family, but she is an alcoholic, and even after she recovers, she eventually admits she pushed Michael away because she didn't want him to see her weak. Michael also loves his family, and does his best with taking care of things when Alice is in rehab, but he's also very controlling, he feels he has to be the one to fix things when they can't be fixed, and he gets jealous of the intimacy Alice has with other recovering addicts.
- My Beloved Smother: Emily (Ellen Burstyn) is shown to be this, as the time when Alice visits her to drop off Jess and Casey (while Alice and Michael go on vacation), she's constantly making passive-aggressive remarks about her. Jess certainly thinks so as well; she tells Alice she doesn't like how her grandmother treats Alice, and when Alice and Michael come by to pick up their daughters when they get back from vacation, Jess eagerly pulls their luggage out to the curb.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Amy, the au pair, gets so upset about Michael blaming all of his problems (having to deal with his work and being both mother and father to Jess and Casey while Alice in rehab) on her, she storms out. Michael later has to beg to get her to come back.
- Servile Snarker: Amy can be like this; early in the film, when Alice and Michael are on their way out for their anniversary dinner, Alice gives her instructions on what to do, and when Michael asks if she got all of that, Amy responds, "Which part of that did you think I didn't understand?"
- Suddenly Shouting: Played for Drama: After Jess calls Michael at his hotel with the news Alice has fallen through the shower door and won't wake up, and Michael promises Jess he's going to get help:Michael: (still on the hotel phone) I need an outside line. (no one hears him) I NEED AN OUTSIDE LINE!
- Through His Stomach: A Gender Flipped version; in addition to the scene during The Teaser (see Bait-and-Switch above), when Casey asks Alice early in the film why she married Michael, Alice admits Michael made her a carrot cake.
- Titled After the Song: By Percy Sledge, which we hear at the beginning of The Teaser.
- Would Hurt a Child: Alice ends up slapping Jess after one of her binges when Jess tries to ask her if she's okay. Near the end of the movie, Alice later admits this, as well as when she fell through the shower door, was when she hit Rock Bottom.
