Based on the personal memoirs of Augusten Burroughs, RUNNING WITH
SCISSORS is a wickedly funny, brave and moving tale of surviving
a most unusual childhood. Augusten's (Joseph Cross) mother
(Annette Bening) is a deluded aspiring post with bipolar disorder
whose marriage to his dad (Alec Baldwin) is in ruins. Soon, she
is seeing a very eccentric therapist named Dr. Finch (Brian Cox),
while Augusten is left in the care of Finch's wacky family,
including his tightly-wound daughter (Gwyneth Paltrow). Abandoned
by his parents and adopted by the Finches, he finds a kindred
spirit in youngest daughter Natalie (Evan Rachel Wood) and
motherly support from Finch's long suffering wife Agnes (Jill
Clayburgh). Constantly the events of his life in his
journals as a way to cope, Augusten finds himself avoiding
school, learning about love from an older man (Joseph Fiennes),
and making big decisions at the tender age of fifteen.
.com
----
Annette Bening is the stand-out highlight in this dysfunctional
"family" comedy based on the bestselling memoir by Augusten
Burroughs. Although fans of the book may be slightly disappointed
with the film's uneven and somewhat campy rendition of Burroughs'
twisted adolescence in the 1970s, there's plenty of pleasure to
be found in the work of an excellent cast led by Bening, who
gives a subtle dare-to-hate-me performance as Burroughs' mother
Diedre, a would-be poet who's so aloof about her teenage son
Augusten (played by fresh-faced newcomer Joseph Cross, from s
of Our hers) that she allows him to be legally adopted into
the eccentric family of her psychiatrist, Dr. Finch (Brian Cox).
As the half-crazed Finch overmedicates Diedre into a haze of
semi-conscious madness, he also turns Augusten's life upside down
while his wife (Jill Clayburgh) and daughters (Gwyneth Paltrow,
Evan Rachel Wood) indulge their own eccentricities and Augusten
enters into an relationship with one of Finch's adopted
patients (played by Joseph Fiennes).
As adapted and directed by Nip/Tuck creator Ryan Murphy, Running
with Scissors lacks the singular voice of Burroughs' dryly
comedic first-person narrative, but even as the film struggles to
find a consistent tone, it's so full of wacky behavior that you
can't help laughing. It's a messy, patchwork quilt of a movie,
blessed by authentically garish '70s production design and a
soundtrack of familiar '70s hits. In rendering Burroughs'
indelible portrait of weak, irresponsible adults and the people
they victimize, Murphy and his well-chosen cast (which also
includes Alec Baldwin as Diedre's ex-husband) find moments of
touching pathos amidst the madness. For her part, Bening delivers
an accled performance that gives the film a dramatic weight it
otherwise lacks. The rest is for anyone who enjoys a laugh at the
freak-show expense of damaged and damaging characters. --Jeff
Shannon
Stills from Running with Scissors (click for larger image)
( https://images-na.ssl-images-.com/images/G/01/dvd/sony/RWS/RWS1lrg.jpg )
( https://images-na.ssl-images-.com/images/G/01/dvd/sony/RWS/RWS2lrgfin.jpg )
( https://images-na.ssl-images-.com/images/G/01/dvd/sony/rws/RWS3lrg.jpg )
( https://images-na.ssl-images-.com/images/G/01/dvd/sony/rws/RWS4lrg.jpg )
( https://images-na.ssl-images-.com/images/G/01/dvd/sony/rws/RWS6lrg.jpg )
( https://images-na.ssl-images-.com/images/G/01/dvd/sony/rws/RWS5lrg.jpg )
More Running with Scissors on .com
The Book ( /exec/obidos/ASIN/031242227X/ref=d_ap_rws_32 )
More Films staring Annette Bening (
/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/422920/ref=d_ap_rws%20_27 )
More Films about Eccentric Families (
/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/291112/ref=d_ap_rws%20_27 )