Running with Scissors (R)
Mike:
Scott:
Scott: Tonight we are reviewing Running with Scissors
, the movie adaptation of Augusten Burroughs' memoir of his growing up in a ‘far from ordinary’ family.
Scott: What did you think Mike?
Mike: Man, I don’t know. The more I think about it the more I hate this movie.
I will admit I laughed a few times, towards the beginning, but this move wears on you. It's bizarre just to be bizarre.
What about you?
Scott: Well put. It is one of those few movies I can say straight out, that I didn't like it. It's not that it started out strong. It was only funny in the beginning, when you were finding out how messed up Augusten’s (Joseph Cross) family is and then you realize that it's not so much funny as sad.
Mike: True. I like bizarre sometimes, but this was like a number of strange episodes just strung together.
There is one point where all the different characters were screaming for one reason or another at the exact same moment in different locations. At that point I almost screamed in the theater.
Scott: It starts off different, but not outright odd. Augusten's mom Deirdre (Annette Bening) seems to have some mental issues. Instead of treating her issues, her doctor heavily doses her with drugs. She then loses control of herself and all those around her suffer.
Bening did well as the over prescribed and self absorbed mom.
Mike: I had heard things ahead of time about this being a great Annette Bening performance, but I will have to disagree.
I think she was way over the top and also basically unlikable.
Scott: She was all about her and you have to have sympathy for anyone raised in that environment.
Alec Baldwin was the father, Norman, and he was an alcoholic. The young boy, Augusten, really had no chance to grow up in a normal household, but even that family was normal to what happened to him next.
Mike: The other problem is that the psychiatrist she is seeing. Dr. Finch (Brian Cox) is so obviously a quack from the beginning, that you become annoyed that anyone would take him seriously.
Scott: Dr. Finch seems to be taking some of his own meds.
After Deidre has yet another breakdown, Augusten is adopted into Dr. Finch's odd household.
Mike: Finch, his house, and family all come straight out of The Addams Family. But not nearly as funny.
At this point it’s almost like watching a prison movie. And I think we all know how much I love those. The Shawshank Redemption being the only exception.
Scott: Actually, it felt like I was in prison. Looking around the theatre a couple times I saw the glow of people checking the time on their cell phones.
Mike: The highlight of this film to me was Evan Rachel Wood as Natalie Finch.
Scott: I thought she was going to be the highlight for me too, but she wasn't in the movie that frequently. I enjoyed her wit and color. But every time the movie threatened to be funny, they would move in another direction.
Mike: I had not seen her in a film until this one and I found her captivating.
I thought Gwyneth Paltrow would be my favorite, but she is underused and thoroughly unlikable as Hope.
This movie has a fantastic cast, which will surely draw people into see this, but please don't get trapped in this spider web of a movie.
Scott: The movie was based on a memoir, so that means that everything centers on the main character Augusten. He has to be in almost every scene, and that takes screen time away from the other actors.
Mike: Cross was fine, but nothing amazing. I spent the whole movie thinking how much he looked like Dominic Monaghan from Lost.
Scott: There was one scene where he looked almost identical. Not only that, the shot was reminiscent of a shot from Lost
Mike: I also spent a good chunk of the movie trying to place who was under the Village People mustache of Neil Bookman (Joseph Fiennes). It never came to me until the credits.
Here is my trivia for tonight: What movie did Gwyneth and Joseph star in previously?
Scott: I'll go with Shakespeare in Love.
Mike: You sir, are a movie genius! Actually that was kind of easy.
Scott: I do know a movie reviewer who knows these things.
Gabrielle Union shows up as Dorothy and she gets all of 5 minutes of screen time, it just wasn't enough.
Mike: I hate to say it, but I think the best female role was Jill Clayburgh as Agnes Finch. She probably had the most growth of anyone in the movie.
Scott: She was the one normal-ish person in the movie.
Mike: I just really hope she was under a lot of makeup and doesn't really look that bad. She's not that old.
Scott: They did a great job on her; she looks good out of that makeup.
Mike: I loved the soundtrack of 70's hits. There were some good songs, with my favorite being Al Stewart's Year of the Cat.
What song struck you?
Scott: Blinded By the Light by Manfred Mann’s Earth Band.
This was just an odd movie, with odd characters in it. Sometimes movies like this can be really entertaining and funny, and sometimes they just don't move anywhere, you don't feel like anything happens.
Mike: This movie was directed and adopted by Ryan Murphy. Ryan is head writer of Nip/Tuck. I hope he doesn't mind working in television.
Scott: What do you rate this?
Mike: I think I will give this a 2 overall and a 2 for psycho comedy.
And you?
Scott: I give it a 1.5 overall and a 1 for psycho comedy.
Mike: Before you see this film, remember that Running with Scissors could get your eye poked out!
