| Written by Jan James Stetter, on 19-06-2007 06:51 |
Media Maven: "Running With Scissors" Movie Review
The Cincy Chic Media Maven, Jan Stetter, reviews "Running With Scissors." She tells you what she thinks about this film, and lets you in on the one important detail that its trailers leave out.
Running With Scissors
Annette Benning, Jill Clayburgh, Alec Baldwin, Gwyneth Paltrow and Joseph Fiennes
A comedy? A tragedy?
Running With Scissors is a movie based on the autobiography of writer,
Augusten Burroughs. Growing up in the seventies in a middle class
neighborhood in Massachusetts, Augusten had a mother, a father and a
dog. A quintessential existence? Think again.
Critically acclaimed author Augusten Burrough’s bizarre life story is
told in magnified grandeur through the vehicle of film and the
impressive adaptation of the novel, Running With Scissors by
playwright, Ryan Murphy. Supported by an outstanding cast of film
veterans such as Annette Benning, Jill Clayburgh, Alec Baldwin, Gwyneth
Paltrow and Joseph Fiennes the acting alone is worthy of Oscar
nominations.
Annette Benning and Jill Clayburgh were outstanding in their
performances. One played a lost soul who abdicated her relationship
with her only child. The other played a character who lost her soul
when she lost sight of her dreams. Their performances were penetrating
and raw. Very courageous for actresses in this youth obsessed culture
to reveal their craft in such a riveting honest inelegant and
ungraceful setting.
Joseph Cross plays the main character during his teen years.
Incredibly, he seems the most normal of all of the bizarre characters
in this film. A modulated performance by Cross served well in
expressing the pain of his lost childhood. The reversal of roles in his
relationship with his mother, Annette Benning, fit neatly into the
lunacy of Augusten’s young life. The more erratic Benning’s character,
Deirdre, became; the more Augsten was forced to be the adult.
If one is a fan of Augusten Burrough’s writing, then this movie will
satisfy. It is full of crippled characters; specifically a delusional
mother, a distant alcoholic father, an unscrupulous psychiatrist and
several wounded souls.
My complaint is trailers that set the movie up to be a comedy/dramedy.
This movie was far from being a comedy. It was a tragedy. It told the
story of a young man’s life spent under the care of a deranged
psychiatrist. And how this doctor managed not only to bankrupt his own
personal finances; but more tragically, forever bankrupt the lives of
his wife, children and patients.
They say, Whatever doesn’t kill you will make you stronger. For
Augusten Burrough, Running With Scissors didn’t kill him. It made him a
famous author and a beneficiary of a movie that tells the story of his
damaged, unconventional life.
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