Anchored by one of the best performances of actress Michelle Pfeiffer's illustrious career, this domestic drama based on a best-selling novel isn't a complete waste of time, but neither is it very convincing or believable, and it falls apart with a third act that feels like CliffsNotes to the ending of a better film. The first half of The Deep End of the Ocean is effectively taut and gripping, dealing with the universal themes of loss, blame, and guilt, exploring how people recover from losing a child, and how those that don't become crippled. But as soon as the film's major plot conceit kicks in (the coincidental encounter that provides the grist for the third act), the tale becomes strained in credibility. The script from screenwriter Stephen Schiff begins to enter the realm of the sloppy made-for-television movie, with glossed-over emotions, scenes that set up an event that is never depicted, and dialogue that becomes expository in nature, all likely an effort to cover miles of literary ground in a hurried half hour. Maybe most unforgivably, the characters played by Pfeiffer and Treat Williams, who have been the film's chief protagonists for most of its running time, step into the background as a far more interesting story about the relationship between a problem child and his long-lost brother comes to the fore. This shift in focus and attention towards the end of the film robs The Deep End of the Ocean of what should have been an emotionally powerful punch of an ending, and the film concludes not with a bang but with a whimper.