As a good parent, what do you do if your intelligent college student offspring suddenly decides to join a bizarre religious community and cut himself off from his family? In this honest and well-balanced family drama, Michael O'Keefe is excellent as Danny, the bright young man who could be good enough for the Olympics, who falls for Rebecca (Karen Allen) and through her becomes involved in the cult run by Kirklander (Peter Fonda). Equally good are Brian Dennehy and Elizabeth Ashley as the exemplary, likeable middle-class parents who, mystified and eventually desperate, turn to dubious 'deprogramming' expert James Woods - revelling in a seriously sleazy role - who claims he can bring the boy back to normality. Thanks to the fact that the cult does not appear to be sinister in any way, the dilemma brilliantly presented: there are no obvious answers, and this is greatly to the movie's credit.


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