after a decade of turbulent unrest and american movie begin to switch gear and turn their camera away from war tear battlefield and political corruption and and general social unease to the more intimate world of family dysfunction . the toll the selfish baby boomer begin to take on the american family a they grow up and have kid of their own be make itself felt . kramer vs. kramer be one of the first of these dysfunctional family drama that would continue to be so popular throughout the 1980s and and it one of the best . it get a rather bum rap now and because it know a the film that beat apocalypse now for the 1979 best picture academy award and but compare these two film be like compare a banana to a marinate chicken breast represent theyre not remotely the same and but can not we enjoy them both . director or writer robert benton doesn not try to do anything fancy with his movie while it strength lie in it performance and those of dustin hoffman and meryl streep particularly and play a divorced couple fight childishly and selfishly over their son . the courtroom scene in which they duke it out for custody and and in which each be force to hurt the other in terrible way and be devastate and and feel authentic . the movie doesn not present hoffman solid dad a a hero and or streep stray mom a a villain . theyre neither good or bad a people theyre simply bad at be marry . the film be tear jerky at the finale and but not in a manipulative way . it earn it right to elicit sob . grade represent a .