Screen Time: 
(4)- it's a short scene, but a well-acted one.
Woundage: 
(4)- you can't call it a movie unless someone throws something at him.
Aesthetics: 
(6)- That blue velveteen suit. It's just so- so- FUZZY.
Originally adapted from the play "Homefront," this film marks an excellent showing from Emilio Estevez as a director and an actor. The film tells the story of a Vietnam veteran's return to middle-class America and the impact his traumatic time there has had both on his family and his psyche. Martin Sheen and Kathy Bates are wonderful as his parents, who display the neuroticism and cluelessness of any suburban couple. Their struggle and ultimate inability to understand what Jeremy has gone through in the war is wholly believable.
Well, on to Geoffrey. This film takes place near Thanksgiving, and the pivotal event is the elaborate Thanksgiving dinner that Kathy Bates's character has been planning for weeks. The family's dinner guests include Jeremy's cousin David, played by the estimable Mr. Blake. David is happily married to a girl named Brenda (played by Renee Estevez who is, in real life, Emilio's sister) and is so nauseatingly well-adjusted that you know instantly he hasn't been through the same trauma Jeremy has. It turns out that David's draft number was much higher than Jeremy's, so he did not get drafted. Here's where the requisite Blake abuse comes in. Because Jeremy refuses to come down for Thanksgiving dinner, and the lame excuse delivered by his parents is pretty transparent, the tension in the room is pretty high. Martin Sheen blows up at David's father, played by Lane Smith, David jumps to his defense, and Martin Sheen starts throwing things at him.
Once again, Geoffrey is proven effective as a vehicle for abuse from the Estevez family, but this movie offers so much more where his talent is concerned. The role gives him a much freer range of emotions than others he's had on the big screen (e.g. Forrest Gump, Apollo 13) and it's my opinion that he really carries this scene. In his elf-like haircut and 1970s era clothes (I really need to see more of him in bright blue and yellow), he's also pretty darn cute. Rent this movie for its poignancy and underlying social message. Rewind it and watch selected parts in slow motion for the Blake scene.
On another note, in Geoffrey's forthcoming film Lost and Found, he once again acts alongside Lane Smith (better known as the editor from "Lois and Clark", not to be confused with the Lane Smith that illustrates Jon Sczieska novels). Is it just me, or do we see an awful lot of recurring actors in Blakefilms? This suggests to me that he establishes a rapport with his fellow actors that makes them want to work with him again and again. Or maybe he's just fun to abuse.
