Doing Time on Maple Drive is a 1992 made-for-television drama film. Written by James Duff and directed by Ken Olin, the film stars James Sikking, Bibi Besch, William McNamara, Jayne Brook, David Byron, Lori Loughlin and Jim Carrey in an early and rare dramatic role.
This movie offers a sensitive and realistic, if not fully comforting, view of how parents can warp the lives of their children if they don't change their approach to them as they grow-up. An experienced high school counselor once told me that while parents should exercise consistent and reasonable control on younger children, they should ease into being consistently loving and supporting, not controlling, as their children move into the high school years. By that time values have been formed and continued control serves only to warp and distort relationships. This movie illustrates very well how unrealistic parental expectations can smother and alienate children. There are great lessons here, especially regarding sexual matters and the unique aspirations of individual children. This movie deserves a very wide audience. Beyond the message and plot, this is a movie with fine production standards and near brilliant directing. The holds and fades are timed to perfection and the cast is superb. I'd recommend this one to anyone without hesitation.
Doing Time on Maple Drive centers around the Carter family. Father Phil (Sikking) is a successful local restaurateur, married for many years to Lisa (Besch). They have three grown children, Karen (Brook), Tim (Carrey) and Matt (McNamara). Karen is married to Tom (Byron), Tim works in his father's restaurant and Matt is a college student. Matt returns from college and introduces the family to his fiancée, Allison (Loughlin).
Matt is injured after crashing his car; he returns home to recuperate. As he recovers, the family is revealed to be almost completely dysfunctional. Tim is an alcoholic. Matt's car crash was a suicide attempt brought on by the pressure of being gay and closeted from his conservative parents and lying about Allison's breaking their engagement because of it. Lisa is in deep denial about all of the problems family members are facing.
Karen's husband Tom learns that Karen is pregnant and that she is so terrified of bringing a child into a family situation like hers that she's considering having an abortion without telling him. Tom angrily confronts her father Phil, declaring that while Phil may be destroying his own family he won't allow Phil to destroy his. He takes Karen away. Matt confronts his parents, including telling his mother that he knows she already knows he is gay after having walked in on him and another boy. Lisa continues to struggle with denial, but Phil begins to take tentative steps toward understanding.
