Kramer vs. Kramer

Name: Kramer vs. Kramer
Genre: Drama
Released: December 19, 1979
Duration: 105 min
Rating: 77
Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep

1979

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Generally favorable reviews based on 10 Critic Reviews

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8.4

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Kramer Vs. Kramer

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Movie Details & Credits

Columbia Pictures | Release Date: December 19, 1979 | PG

Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep

Summary: Ted Kramer (Hoffman) must raise his son Billy (Henry) on his own after his wife (Streep) leaves him. After a time has passed she returns, wanting custody of the boy.

Director: Robert Benton

Genre(s): Drama

Rating: PG

Runtime: 105 min

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Critic Reviews

100

TV Guide Magazine Ethan Alter

Kramer vs. Kramer is, essentially, a television movie that was raised into the feature category by the excellence of the execution. Read full review

100

Jay Scott

Kramer vs. Kramer is one of the most sensitive and least judgmental film about relationships ever made in the United States.... One of the important films. [15 Dec 1979]

100

Roger Ebert

Kramer vs. Kramer is a movie of good performances, and it had to be, because the performances can't rest on conventional melodrama. Read full review

Staff (Not Credited)

Kramer vs. Kramer is a perceptive, touching, intelligent film about one of the raw sores of contemporary America, the dissolution of the family unit. Read full review

Josh Larsen

After a bumpy, Mr. Mom-style start, director Robert Benton settles the film into a quietly observed depiction of the challenges and rewards of single parenting, anchored by a Hoffman performance that mostly shakes off his gesticulating instincts in favor of a relational rootedness (he’s particularly good with young Justin Henry as the boy). Read full review

David Sterritt

Even when its emotions run a bit out of control, Kramer vs. Kramer is a strong and positive film. Its performances are first-rate, from Hoffman and streep down to Howard Duff (as a divorce lawyer) and a terrifically talented lad named Justin Henry, who visibly matures in his portrayal of Billy, the contested kid. Read full review

Jonathan Rosenbaum

Misogynistic claptrap about a divorced husband (Dustin Hoffman) fighting for the custody of and learning to cope with his little boy (Justin Henry) - a movie whose classy trimmings (including Nestor Almendros's cinematography) persuaded audiences to regard writer-director Robert Benton as a subtle art-house director. Read full review

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User Reviews

alejandro970

Nov 18, 2022

A skeptic would see this as a run-of-the-mill soap opera, but it's not remotely one. It accurately and truthfully narrates the emotional pain of divorce, especially if it focuses on children. One of the iconic 1979 movies that put the names of Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep in neon lights.

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FanBoyCritic1

Mar 24, 2016

Plot/Summary
A just divorced man must learn to care for his son on his own, and then must fight in court to keep custody of him
Director(Robert Benton) Cast Dustin Hoffman(Ted Kramer) Meryl Steep(Johanna Kramer) Justin Henny(Billy Kramer) Jane Alexander(Margaret Philips) HowardPlot/Summary
A just divorced man must learn to care for his son on his own, and then must fight in court to keep custody of him
Director(Robert Benton)
Cast
Dustin Hoffman(Ted Kramer)
Meryl Steep(Johanna Kramer)
Justin Henny(Billy Kramer)
Jane Alexander(Margaret Philips)
Howard Duff(Jhon Shaunessy)
Jobeth Williams(Phyllis Bernard)
My Review
I hate you i hate you too you little ****
Those are the words family should never say to each other. This movies Kramer vs Kramer tells the story about a divorced man who finally begins to have a bond with his child until he meets with his old wife and she wants her son back. As i heard the quotes i hate i hate you too you little **** that reminded me of the hard times i can have with my father yet we still love each other which means this motion picture gave me the real feeling of nostalgia about the bond between me and my father.Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Steep give the greatest performances in there career and it has nostalgia and reminds me of the bond between me and my father which is why i give Kramer vs Kramer a 5 out of 5.… Expand

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FilipeNeto

Sep 12, 2020

Excellent, at all levels.

There are no easy weddings. Whoever is married, let him say it for you! And there are no easy divorces. There are always moments of accusations, acid exchanges, traumatic legal struggles, and children are often the most affected. This incredible film is aboutExcellent, at all levels.

There are no easy weddings. Whoever is married, let him say it for you! And there are no easy divorces. There are always moments of accusations, acid exchanges, traumatic legal struggles, and children are often the most affected. This incredible film is about that.

Ted and Joanna Kramer were just another couple in an agonizing crisis: with work increasingly demanding, Ted was no longer able to pay attention to his wife's emotional needs, and the emotional divide between them became insurmountable. She packs her bags, walks out the door. He leaves everything behind, including his own son. Ted will have to change his life and learn to be a mother and father, knowing in advance that he will not get the same time and reasoning available to work at 110% as he did before. And the ghost of a legal battle for the custody of the child will always be a sword of Damocles on him.

The film is really good, it approaches the problem with a rare elegance and we can actually follow the changes in the routine and in the behavior of that father and that son, as they adapt. The script was wonderfully constructed and the emotional bond that we are establishing with the characters is fast and solid. At times, I felt that the film sided with the father on many issues, and that the maternal figure was almost condemned by the end of the marriage. On the other hand, the film raises very serious and pertinent questions as to how the courts, often relatively informally, tend to favor the mother's side in custody disputes. I think the way in which Ted Kramer exposes himself in the scene where he is asked about it in court is a real libel for defending a father's ability to be considered as good as any mother to raise her child. It's a joke, thirty, almost forty years after the film was made, and men are still a long way from earning the right to better prospects in a legal dispute over a child.

The actors did an excellent job. The film has a relatively small cast, and everything revolves around the family in disintegration. Dustin Hoffman is an excellent protagonist and really deserves to be acclaimed for his interpretation which, moreover. Beside her, equally grandiose, Meryl Streep manages to save her character who, in the hands of an actress without her talent and ability, would become a simple villain empty of content ... the only thing that may have hindered her is to have really little time in the film. Justin Henry, who gave life to the couple's young son, also knew how to work very seriously in his role and the way he did it was truly worthwhile, considering his age. Finally, a word of appreciation and praise for the work of Jane Alexander, in the role of the neighbor and best friend of the couple.

Not being the type of film where technical details stand out, it maintained a regularity that accentuated its elegance. Cinematography contributed decisively to this by using colors and light well, and maintaining a generally neutral contrast (in some scenes this was purposely altered). The sets and costumes are also very good, and I personally would like to highlight the way the decoration of the house changes over time: the maternal figure disappears, the “feminine touch” too, things become more practical. Finally, a note of praise that seems fair and important to the soundtrack, built on a solid foundation of melodies by Vivaldi and Purcell, two giants of Baroque music. As a confessed and incorrigible music lover, I was delighted to appreciate this soundtrack.… Expand

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amheretojudge

Jan 15, 2018

see you in the morning light.. Kramer VS. Kramer

How often do you watch a movie and fall into its world from the first frame till the end credits? Kramer VS. Kramer is one of those rare masterpiece that is innocent even though it raises some delicate questions about society. Dustin Hofmannsee you in the morning light.. Kramer VS. Kramer

How often do you watch a movie and fall into its world from the first frame till the end credits? Kramer VS. Kramer is one of those rare masterpiece that is innocent even though it raises some delicate questions about society. Dustin Hofmann holds our little finger and walks us through the movie all on his own to the other side of the road where Meryl Streep is waiting for us to mesmerize us. Kramer VS. Kramer is a fine example of the art that cinema is with its unpredictable and surprisingly beautiful script.… Expand

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Offworld_Colony

Feb 19, 2020

I've never seen a Robert Benton film but now I'm hooked and not often does a film pop and resonate so much that I want to envelop myself in an entire filmography of its creators.

Additionally, I expected this film (one I have never seen) to be a comedy, the poster and the title made me lookI've never seen a Robert Benton film but now I'm hooked and not often does a film pop and resonate so much that I want to envelop myself in an entire filmography of its creators.

Additionally, I expected this film (one I have never seen) to be a comedy, the poster and the title made me look forward to a zany, light-hearted, early-80's family picture with some sentiment and darker sprinkles towards the end. Boy was I wrong. Yes, the film develops its sense of humour, beautifully I might add, but it's first and foremost a serious drama about evolving gender roles, mental health, love, jobs and parenthood.

The Vivaldi music is perfectly placed and utilised, the film encompasses so many little character quirks and small moments without being unfilmic. It manages to have an intimate male/female relationship without it ever looking like it will blossom in to cliche romantic love and there's no question that Streep and Hoffman won't get back together which focus the movie. Despite the film's theatricality and ancientnesss, it's still a relevant film today I feel in many ways. Today it would be made to show a more female POV (and perhaps it should) but at the time I think it very much set out to show other Men that Men could have the same hearts.… Expand

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ahmedaiman9999

Nov 16, 2018

I can't believe how many times I snapped my opinion! That's for the most part because the movie refused to take sides, but in a very remarkable way. Simply, the movie seems as if it had shied away from interfering with the Kramers' divorce subject, and therefore let its characters to competeI can't believe how many times I snapped my opinion! That's for the most part because the movie refused to take sides, but in a very remarkable way. Simply, the movie seems as if it had shied away from interfering with the Kramers' divorce subject, and therefore let its characters to compete with each other on making viewer biased towards him/her. And that's exactly what made the main characters flesh out, of course besides the fact that they are played by Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep.

Both Dustin Hoffman (one of my favorite actors of all-time), and Meryl Streep (one of, if not the best actress of all-time) gave unbelievably authentic performances that could be the best performances of their respected careers. They definitely deserved their Oscars!

The only issue I have with Robert Benton's masterpiece that I could have easily ignored is that I found the interrogation part of the courtroom scene was a bit tad monotonous only because I became totally torn between both Ted and Joanna because the baffling honesty of their justifications. I know that sounds more like a good thing, but I got tired at the end of the sequence of the constant rejections of the defense lawyers. So maybe the sequence could have been a bit shorter as we became aware how it would end.

Kramer vs. Kramer is easily the most sensitive, absorbing, and heartbreaking movie I've seen of its kind. In part because the exceptional cast, but largely because Robert Benton's significant adapted screenplay that is as simple as it's profound, and indisputably because of his tangible and nuanced direction.

(9.5/10)… Expand

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beingryanjude

Aug 27, 2014

Often painful to endure... but that's nearly the point: to become so emotionally heart-wrenched by these characters. The acting is superb... I mean, this is Meryl Streep's first Oscar after-all.

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