Terms of Endearment is the rare commercial picture that sets audiences to laughing hysterically and crying unashamedly, sometimes within consecutive seconds, and then shoos them out of the theater in contended emotional exhaustion.

The picture isn't boring; it's just fraudulent.

Thanks mainly to fine acting in all the major roles and most of the minor ones, "Terms" is pretty well irresistible entertainment. It turns giggles into lumps in the throat and crinkles the eyes with laughter while it is misting them with tears.

Winger gives us someone incredibly unique and specific...