krocheav Award winning writer/director James Lapine pulls out all stops with this full on study of the US Family Law Court: its employees, several various related services, & families involved with some of its outcomes. This quite powerful production has the look of a made for Cinema feature that went straight to TV. Performances are first class, as is the cinematography and music score. Lapine has included many story elements (too many perhaps?) giving it the feel of a pilot for yet another upcoming endless series (thank heavens it was all wrapped up in a feature) & while there are unresolved situations, we know enough to fill in the spaces. Good looking and absorbing - can recommend 'Custody' for any lover of dramatic studies that deal with contemporary social issues.

anthonysaponaro I rarely comment on shows I watch but for some strange reason I felt I had to. I think all of the actors and actresses did an awesome job ! It is not an action movie so if you're looking for that, you're out of luck. I enjoyed the story and each person cast seemed to fulfill their role brilliantly. Especially Viola Davis, wish they would have focused a little more on her issue and Hayden's we never really got closure . . . . Overall excellent, can't really say a bad thing about it.

Desertman84 Catalina Sandino Moreno of the Colombian movie "Maria Full of Grace" together with Viola Davis and Hayden Panettiere stars in this excellent Lifetime TV movie "Custody".It tells the story of a Hispanic woman at New York who is facing a Court Planning System or C.P.S. wherein she found herself fighting to regain her children back after she lost them. Sara Diaz just arrived home.When she found that her daughter Tia and son David weren't at home,she decided to look for them that led her fight angrily with David which caused her to her to accidentally hit her 10-year-old son on the face.When someone noticed that her son has a black eye on her face at school time,it was reported at the New York Court Planning System which led her kinds that were taken away from her custody temporarily.In the process,the hearing as been set to determine whether who should take custody of her children.Martha Schulman acts as the judge on the court while Ally Fisher takes the case of Sara pro bono.As the case is on going,it also takes us to the subplots of the stories of Martha and Ally with the former heading towards a divorce with her husband and the latter having lack of experience in court hearing as she just came from school recently as well as being part of the rich family who already experienced some form of child abuse from her uncle.The movie takes us on how the people involved and the challenges that they are currently facing from how would Martha handle the case being on a brink of a divorce,how Ally would defend a seemingly poor and Hispanic Sara when she apparently belong to a rich Caucasian family, and how Sara would handle the formalities and hearings on the court due to her lack of education and would want her kids every second of the day.This Lifetime TV movie was definitely not one's standard TV movie.First,we have a great collection of stories from the judge Martha,the lawyer Ally and of course the mother Sara.The stories maybe different but they all came together at the end as we get to see them all overcome the challenges and struggles they have faced off court.Second,we get to see great performances from Viola Davis, Hayden Panettiere and especially Catalina Sandino Moreno,who definitely was interesting and engaging portraying Sara.Third,we also get to see how different the poor and the rich treat their kids as shown between that of Sara in comparison to that of the families of Martha and Ally.Finally,the viewer also would think about how Court Planning System with regards into doing its job of deciding to whose custody it places the kids.One may other be in favor or not in favor with it at all.Overall,it was an excellent TV movie.

MovieHoliks I watched this, along with 2 other movies, this past week off the Lifetime Roku channel, and while the other 2 ("From Straight A's to XXX" and the Britney Spears one) were your usual laughable Lifetime fair, this one was actually pretty good. Viola Davis, who just won the "Best Supporting Actress" Oscar for "Fences", really steals the show here, showing how a judge's personal life can not only affect her attitude in the courtroom, but maybe even, to a certain extent, her sentencing? This had a really good ensemble cast for a Lifetime original; and I was sorta surprised, and maybe disappointed, that "Monk" himself, Tony Shalhoub, was kinda under-used in this?? Catalina Santino Maria (if I have that name right?), the star of "Maria Full of Grace", Dan Fogler (in a rare serious role, perhaps showcasing a future romantic leading man series of roles?), Hayden Paynettiere, etc.. co-star.