The concept is fascinating in itself, but apart from that, how compelling is the result? What always works is the interest in seeing how people develop and in the case of Mason, how his looks change as he grows into manhood, and that also goes for his sister developing into womanhood. We get the portrait of a brother-sister relationship, the teenage problems that arise and concerns about sexuality. Mason develops into somewhat of a brooder who worries about his place in the world, the meaning of it all, and follows his talent at photography, which he would rather work on than study.

The film is also interesting for the way it shows us youngsters trying to cope with the mess-ups in adult lives and how they affect them. Hawke is especially good as the rootless dad who splits with Olivia and takes a job in Alaska, but turns up on occasion to try to keep up the relationship with Mason and Samantha. He loves his children and gives them his all when he is with them. It is the kind of part that Hawke handles with charisma. Eventually he meets and marries a woman more in tune with him, and Mason and Samatha get on well with her and she with them.

After parting with the father of her children and moving to Houston, Olivia enters a new relationship with an attractive professor in whose class she is studying in order to help her with a teaching career. But life together becomes hell when he turns out to be an abusive drunk, and she has to escape with Mason and Samantha to be sheltered temporarily by friends. Arquette is excellent in the role, particularly when she lets go with an outburst against the life she has been leading as a mother, teacher and breadwinner and the feeling of life falling apart when her son and daughter are leaving the nest. The film succeeds in revealing the tough challenges of parenthood over a period of time.

There is father-son bonding during a camping trip, and also a very funny scene when dad attempts to talk about sex with his embarrassed teenagers. More humor comes into play when Mason and Samantha as kids are going around in their neighborhood asking to post Obama-Biden election signs on lawns and they encounter one very hostile Republican. We also get a glimpse of Texas gun culture when Mason is given a shotgun by the father of the new woman in his dad’s life and Mason and Samantha are shown how to shoot. Mason’s birthday present from their stepmom’s very religious parents is a bible with his name engraved on it. His father privately indicates to Mason that all that religion is not to be taken very seriously.

Over the course of the film’s two hours and 45 minutes we see highs and lows, pleasures and problems, challenges and achievements—all with the set of main characters and those intersecting with their lives. But after a while one can grow somewhat impatient until a fresh moment comes along. One can tire of spending so much time with characters still rather privileged despite their struggles. The novelty of the film generally looms as the major attraction.