Taking Off

Larry Tyne Buck Henry and his wife Lynn Lynn Carlin return home one evening to an unsettled quiet that soon feels pregnant with worry: their teenage daughter Jeannie Linnea Heacock is nowhere to be found. Jeannie’s absence is quickly tied to an audition she’s reportedly attending, a detail that echoes through the film as clips reappear, introducing a montage of future stars like Carly Simon and Kathy Bates who would later become well known. The Tynes call the Divitos, the family they hope Jeannie might be with, only to be met with the Divitos’ daughter’s insistence that she doesn’t know where Jeannie is.

In a bid to widen the net, the two men enlist their friends, Tony Harvey and Georgia Engel as Margot, and they set out to comb the neighborhood’s bars while the women linger by the phone, trading stories and gossip about sex. The evenings are spent in a blend of camaraderie and worry, and when the men stumble home drunk, Jeannie returns—only to disappear again just as abruptly as she had appeared. The next day, Larry ventures into the city to keep looking for her, a trek that will take him through crowded streets and crowded thoughts alike.

On the street, a chance encounter leads him to Ann Lockston Audra Lindley, a parent who is also desperately seeking her own missing daughter. Ann shares with Larry a beacon of hope in the form of a self-help group for parents facing similar turmoil, a beacon that promises community and perhaps practical help. The sense of necessity deepens as the police from upstate reach out with news: Jeannie’s been arrested, 300 miles away, for stealing. Larry and Lynn rush to see her, only to discover that the young woman in custody is the Divitos’ daughter, who has given police a false name. The mistaken destination underscores how easily lives can drift apart when a child vanishes from sight.

On the trip back home, the couple’s journey twists into a moment of celebrity surprise: a hotel stop where Ike Turner Ike Turner and Tina Turner Tina Turner are performing. Lynn, under the influence of the night and the alcohol, becomes intoxicated and is followed to the Turners’ room by an amorous stranger, ignorant that Larry is sleeping in the bed. When the intruder departs, Lynn experiments with some tips Margot had confided earlier, a small moment of adult curiosity that adds a tangle of nerves to the night’s memory.

Back in the city, the self-help group hosts a formal dinner where relief and relief-seeking mingle with a touch of cheeky recklessness. Marijuana passes around among the attendees, and a young man named Schiavelli Vincent Schiavelli takes a playful, almost classroom-style role in guiding the parents through the rituals of smoking. The mood sharpens as laughter tightens into shared vulnerability, a rare window into the private lives that the group is ostensibly trying to conceal.

With the group now visibly relaxed and buoyed by the highs of their experiences, Larry Buck Henry and Lynn invite Ann Lockston Audra Lindley and her husband Ben, [Ben Lockston] is portrayed by Paul Benedict, back to their home for more drinks and a social game of strip poker. The house erupts into a calendar of small, improvised dramas: neighbors and friends let go of their formalities as they navigate nerves, nights out, and the fragile, earnest hope that Jeannie will reappear. The gathering reaches a moment of absurdity when a naked Larry climbs onto the table to sing a theatrical piece, “Libiamo ne’ lieti calici,” a scene that punctures pretensions and exposes the shared humanity behind the adults’ facades. Jeannie then re-emerges, and the guests, suddenly aware of the tension beneath the merriment, hastily depart from the scene.

The family’s rhythm shifts again when Jeannie finally admits to having spent time with a boy. Larry, seeking to maintain a sense of order and continuity, suggests bringing the young man home for dinner. The guest turns out to be a young man of considerable intelligence and wealth, yet he declines to perform for the gathered family, preferring to listen. In response, Larry fills the moment with a show of song, entertaining the four with the familiar tune “Stranger in Paradise,” a closing gesture that feels both comic and tender, a reminder of the way music punctuates life’s complexities.

Throughout the film, the central tension remains: the search for Jeannie, the fragile bonds of marriage, and the uneasy intersection of adult freedom and parental responsibility. The cast—anchored by Kathy Bates and Carly Simon in memorable early performances during Jeannie’s auditions—pulls the viewer through a sequence of nightlife, self-help, and intimate confession. The plot unfolds with a patient, observational cadence that respects the characters’ choices while never fully surrendering to cynicism. It reveals a world in which adults navigate the discomfort of uncertain futures and the unpredictable returns of a missing child, balancing humor with the underlying ache of worry.

As the night of misadventure dissolves into daylight, the film lingers on the small, human beats: the warmth of a shared dinner among neighbors, the awkwardness of revelation, and the stubborn, hopeful stubbornness of parents who refuse to give up on their child. The moments in which Jeannie reappears, even briefly, carry the weight of reunion—an imperfect, imperfectly tidy resolution that feels earned rather than resolved. And in the end, the film leaves us with a chorus of ordinary people, some wearing masks of confidence and some exposing their vulnerabilities, all bound by the stubborn, resilient thread of family.

Last Updated: October 09, 2025 at 10:51