Does Justine Bateman seem a tad bit bitter

[icecream]

I had never heard of Satisfaction until now but it sounds fascinating with Justine Bateman and Julia Roberts as singers. Plus I recently saw Schindler's List, it would be nice to see Liam Neeson in something lighter. But I had thought for awhile that Mystic Pizza was Julia's first movie.

[jets4life]

Originally Posted by icecream

Hogwash! Justine Bateman's acting was great on Family Ties, much better than overrated brother Jason's acting on Silver Spoons and The Hogan Family from the same decade. The only thing I didn't like about Mallory was her season 3 choppy hairstyle, but that eventually got longer again.

Jason Bateman was a much better actor than Justine Bateman. The only success Bateman had, was on Family Ties. All other projects she tried unfortunately failed.

[Edward216]

Originally Posted by RetroGuy2000

I don't think Justine seems bitter; I think she seems practical and articulate. While she continues to nab small roles in TV and film, and has managed to amass quite a body of work, Hollywood is fickle, so she went to college and got a tech degree.

Articulate? Seriously? I liked Justine Bateman on Family Ties but I've read where she's been known to say some stupid stuff. Not that she's the only Hollywood celebrity to ever say something stupid.

Ed.

[Yong Fang]

She is or nearly 57 years old now and people age. But she really looks harsh for her age. Was she ever on drugs? Seriously. She has this "hard face" that long term drug addicts have. In the face she looks like a street person.

[Yong Fang]

I just saw the movie "A Right to Kill". I have seen it before. This TV film came out in 1985 and it was about a true life incident of a son murdering his abusive and psychopathic father. Bateman played the sister. Google "Richard Jahnke, Wyoming" and find the case or just see the movie on YouTube "A Right to Kill". This movie was filmed in 1984 when she was on Family Ties.

Justine was really good in that. Excellent in fact. She really portrayed the primal fear of her very abusive, sexually abusive father in this. One of the best scenes was her breaking open a garbage bag and the trash came out and she is down digging at every last bit, crying and hysterical so her father wouldnt beat her. Her other scenes will also excellent (pretending to be English in front of her class to hide who she is). I am of the same generation as her (and I and millions of teenage males had a crush on her) and remember when this movie was first on, and myself and my friend seeing it and cheering like a touchdown of a football game the father getting shot and killed.

She is actually a good actress. I dont know why she never really did anything after Family Ties. I understand she is about 57 now, but she looks rough even for a once beautiful girl at that age. I will say that almost every white high school kid, espcially from the suburbs watched Family Ties every week. The show is all but forgotten but was a major show for us kids who lived in that era. (Somewhat strangely perhaps, this movie also starred the late JT Walsh who usually plays bad to pschopathic characters playing a good man who was the son's teacher. Walsh could have played the father but Frederic Forrest nailed it.)

I do like her brother Jason. I guess I should try his show "Ozark". What was good about him was that he played usually a mild mannered young middle aged man who is caught up in some ridiculous and often comedic situation he cannot get out of easily. Or the voice of reason like in Arrested Development. I like him but for whatever reason his sister didnt do that much after Family Ties.

[jets4life]

Originally Posted by Yong Fang

She is or nearly 57 years old now and people age. But she really looks harsh for her age. Was she ever on drugs? Seriously. She has this "hard face" that long term drug addicts have. In the face she looks like a street person.

I just googled her for the first time in the long run. Yes she has not aged well. She is in her 50's. I read that her and her brother are completely estranged from their parents, and even Jason Bateman admitted that he isn't that close with Justine. Her mother recently lashed out at her children:

'Ozark' Star Jason Bateman Disowns Sick Mom Who Claims Her Children Even Tried 'To Pull The Plug'
jason bateman disowns sick mom

By:Radar Staff
May 28 2022, Published 1:12 p.m. ET

Heartsick and fighting for survival, the mother of Ozark star Jason Bateman is breaking her silence to sensationally claim her coldhearted TV star kids — Jason and Justine — cruelly abandoned her and cut her out of their lives over a family dispute. 80-year-old Vicki Bateman tearfully charges her famous kids with rejecting her in her greatest time of need — because she’d married a man they didn’t like and even told doctors to pull the plug when she was hospitalized!

“If it were up to my children, I’d be dead,” she said, in a new interview.

In 2019, Victoria was stricken with a string of ailments — including pleurisy, a weakened heart and the loss of a transplanted kidney — that put her in the hospital for a year.“My body started to shut down,” she said. “As I lay helpless on life support, my children turned their backs on me. My daughter even told the doctors to pull the plug.”

Former flight attendant Victoria sees it as a stunning betrayal after she and the children’s father, actor Kent Bateman, served as manager and publicists to launch their kids’ stellar careers. Under their parents’ guidance, Jason became a teen heartthrob on Little House on the Prairie, Silver Spoons and “Valerie,” and Justine shot to stardom on Family Ties.

Jason, now 53, later hit it big again on Arrested Development and most recently, the dark Netflix drama Ozark, for which he reportedly earned $300,000 per episode. Justine, 56, has since had a string of TV roles, including a stint on Desperate Housewives, and made her directorial debut in 2021 with the movie Violet. “I raised them both to be kind, considerate, thoughtful and caring people, but something — maybe fame and fortune — changed them,” lamented Vicki.

One turning point, she said, was her marriage to third, and current, hubby Todd Vandemheen, 59. “My children did not like Todd from the beginning, thinking he was going to take their inheritance,” Vicki said. “Why they worried about my money is a mystery because both Justine and Jason are obviously very wealthy.” Vicki claimed after she and Todd wed in 2020, Justine hired an investigator to probe him and even took out a restraining order against him.

“While I was still in poor health and easily manipulated, Justine got her own assistant to be paid from my account at $1,000 a week,” Vicki charged. “She had the assistant go to my home, turn Todd out, and remove the entire household and its contents.”

“Then this assistant arranged for me to be placed in a nursing home. I was miserable, but still so ill I could do nothing about any of this. It was truly elder abuse.”

As Vicki regained her health, she was able to take charge of her life, leave the nursing home and return to her own home in the California desert. Although she still has health issues, she was able to get the restraining order against Todd lifted.

“It was Todd who intervened with doctors when Justine said to pull the plug, and he demanded I be kept alive,” says Vicki. Now, the couple are together again, but was left with an empty house. “There wasn’t one pot or pan left behind, not even a can opener,” said Vicki. “So I have to face the loss of my own children, as well as what they’ve done to me.”

“They’ve had no contact with me whatsoever since 2019. I email Justine and Jason and call but get no response. Not at Christmas or Thanksgiving. Not even on Mother’s Day! I heard nothing from them on my 80th birthday last September.” Sadly, she’s also been cut off from her four grandchildren — Jason’s daughters Francesca, 15, and Maple, 10, and Justine’s kids, Duke, 19, and Gianetta, 18.

Meanwhile, Jason has admitted in interviews: “I’m not a great brother or uncle or son for that matter.” He also claims to have an on-and-off relationship with both of his parents. But it seems mostly “off” with Vicki. “I’m even sadder, after all I went through when they were kids, to speed them on their way into the careers and lives they now have,” she says. “I would urge everyone out there, ‘Take care of your mother, who always loves you.’ ”

source: https://radaronline.com/p/jason-bate...owns-sick-mom/

----

There are always two sides of the story, and from this article, I think the mother is either exaggerating, or not being forthcoming. Usually a mother (if mentally healthy), will defend her offspring in public. The way she goes on about how they "hope she dies" is exaggerated I think. However, it does paint a picture of a dysfunctional family, and could explain any problems Justine Bateman has had.

[Yong Fang]

I have started to watch "Ozark" and it is a good series so far. I will say in my opinion about Jason Bateman that he plays about the same person in everything he is in, or at least similiar. This doesn't take away from Bateman's ability, and he is very successful but he plays the similar/same guy in every adult role he has ever played. For me in his comedies he plays a simialr young middle aged man with the same gift of gab only he has. It's like him playing the character in Arrested Development, his movies or playing his current role in Ozark. He is very similar in my opinion. He is someone who plays in the role he plays. The directors go, we need this kind of person and Jason Bateman is called for it, of that makes sense. Many actors have a range who can play lots of differernt people. Bateman does not have this. He is him and his charactr and molds himself to the situation, He is great, I love his characters, but they are similar. In Arrested Devolpment he is a youg middled aged man who is the ultimate voice of reason, the same in Ozark, he is the voice of reason and common sense.

If I could talk to him I would have said "Dude, if you would have failed as an actor, you would have made a helluva lawyer. With you shtick, you would have made as much of not more in law as in acting."Imagine getting cross examined by Bateman the lawyer. This is what I would I would tell him if I ever could talk to him. Your range is short (in my opinion) but you are who are which has made you very successful.

[Yong Fang]

Concerning her brother Jason.

I like most all of the acting he did as an adult. I will say however that he played a simialr character in every production as an adult he has ever played, comedy or drama (from Arrested Development to Ozark).

He plats very similar people. Nothing wrong with that if played well. He does this. He is a voice of common sense and no matter what his characters are in, is the voice of common sense. His arguments in any situation where comedic or drama has always been the best and most common sense in any situation. Like I said, he played the same variation of the same person (in my opinion).

If I could talk to him I would tell him, if you failed or didnt have an interest in being an actor after childhoold, you would have made one hell of a lawyer. Graduating from a top law school you could have made as much money being a lawyer as acting and could have ran up the Federal ladder in courtships to the Supreme Court. At least his characters knew how to argue and make his side make sense. Would anyone want to debate him if he knew the facts? Better do your homework.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by TMC

This is an observation that I just found regarding why Justine may have not been more successful acting-wise post Family Ties so take it as you will:

1. She’s not a very good actor - While she was tolerable on Family Ties, her other forays into acting were met by indifference. Her skills never seem to have improved and she’s moved into more writing, directing, and social projects.
2. Satisfaction bombed - That was the feature film that attempted to make “Justine Bateman, television actor” into “Justine Bateman, feature film star”. It didn’t work and except for the fact that it was Julia Roberts' first big feature film, it’s largely been forgotten.
3. She returned to television, but wasn’t as successful as she was in Family Ties - Bateman has worked somewhat steadily in smaller roles since the series went off the air in 1989. However she has never returned in a successful series, she looks radically different than she did in her youth (See also #4) and there doesn’t seem to be a demand for her abilities.
4. Time has not been kind to her - Bateman is actually five months older than me, but looks nearly a decade older than her calendar age. She seems to have issues with eating disorders as her weight has fluctuated and she’s appeared rather gaunt during several of her television appearances. If she looked similar to what she did in her youth, she probably still be sought out for roles. She doesn’t.
5. Her brother doesn’t seem to be helping her out in more than a minor fashion - Bateman’s brother Jason has been far more successful than his sister however she only seems to have benefited from that with a role a a prostitute in a few episodes of the first incarnation of his series, Arrested Development. She hasn’t appeared in any of his feature films; nor has she been a part of his successful streaming series, Ozark. Basically her career REALLY could have used his help 25 years ago, and that doesn’t seem to have happened.

What are the biggest factors that hurt Justine Bateman's acting career?

What are the biggest mistakes that Justine Bateman made during her acting career?