This earnest comedy has the bland consistency of a TV movie designed to complement commercials for soft drinks. Everybody's just so gosh darn sweet. Well, okay, Joey Coalter (William Petersen) isn't much of a husband. His odd jobs keep him mostly on the road. In twelve years of marriage, wife Chris (Sissy Spacek) reckons that Joey has been home with her and daughter Beth (Olivia Burnette) for no more than 1137 days. Chris is fond of spouting details like this, and even the no-bull talent of Spacek can't save the role from darlingness. But, hell, Joey loves his womenfolk back in Texas. When he learns that Chris has divorced him in absentia and is planning to marry nice, dull Walt (Brian Kerwin), Joey hightails it home to set things right.

Though Chris is torn between passion and security (there's a new one), don't expect an explosion. Writer Jule Selbo — not surprisingly from TV (Life Goes On) — and director Martin Davidson, who's behind such tripe as Heart of Dixie and Hero at Large, smooth out those pesky rough edges and anything else that's remotely interesting. Petersen tries so hard for charm he kills any chance to achieve it. The movie is too bloodless to provoke scorn; it's simply a forgettable mediocrity.

“Everyday People”

"Everyday People" managed to trailblaze in two different ways -- it was one of the first pop hits to deal with the subject of racial harmony, and it utilized Larry Graham's "slap" technique on the bass guitar, which would soon be copied by countless other bassists. Graham once said about his pulsating style, "I'd never done that before … that's where the freedom of creativity came in for the band, that we'd be allowed to do that." In 1978, the song's line "Different strokes for different folks" would be borrowed for the title of the hit television show Diff'rent Strokes.