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Genres:
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Comedy /
Drama
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Release:
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Director:
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Ryan Murphy
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Actors:
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Dagmara Dominczyk,
Joseph Cross,
Jack Kaeding,
Gabriel Guedj,
Annette Bening,
Brian Cox,
Joseph Fiennes,
Evan Rachel Wood,
Alec Baldwin,
Jill Clayburgh,
Gwyneth Paltrow,
Gabrielle Union,
Patrick Wilson,
Kristin Chenoweth,
Colleen Camp
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Duration:
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122 min.
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Rating:
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(6/10)95.5
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Plot Summary:
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As the son of an alcoholic (Alec Baldwin) and a mentally ill shelter (Annette Bening), little ones Augusten Burroughs (Joseph Shirty) faces a challenging childhood at the very least. His viability takes an unexpected become capsize when his mammy gives him to her unconventional therapist (Brian Cox), and the old crumpet becomes a member of the doctor's own strange, extended family.
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Tags:
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Running with Scissors
Carina ChocanoWhy is it that sometimes there's nothing like a true story to ring false? It's a question for the ages, and there's plenty of time to ponder it during Ryan Murphy's adaptation of Augusten Burroughs' bestselling memoir, which lovingly and painstakingly recounts the years Burroughs spent as the legal charge of his crazy mother's crazier psychiatrist. "I guess it doesn't matter where I begin," says the narrator, just before the movie starts. "No one is going to believe me anyway." At that point, though, there's still no reason to suspect he's right.
Murphy, who created the creepy, funny, lunatic Nip/Tuck, is a master of mordant and macabre camp. But here he loses his teeth, seeming to lack any ironic distance from material that practically begs for it. The...
Dark comedy minus the comedy!!
This film had the potential to be on par with the likes of The Royal Tenenbaums and numerous other movies dealing with dysfunctional families, but it never quite reaches that level. There is just too much tragedy in the lead characters life for even the slightly funny bits to raise a smile.
I found myself more concerned with the fact that this film is based on Augusten Burroughs' personal memoirs, and alarmed that all these events actually happened to this poor kid!!!
There is a couple of redeeming qualities though- one is Annette Bening who acts her socks off as the crazy mum, and the second is that Augusten survived his traumatising childhood to become a success!!!
Think I might go back and read the book instead!!!
Irritating
I rented this film after friends had commented on how great the book was... i wish I'd read the book instead.
Augusten Burroughs is a teenager raised by unstable parents, who's eventual split leads his mother to hand him over to her psychiatrist, a man who's family is as questionable as his medical practices.
The film isn'y entirely bad but I did get very bored about three quarters of the way through. I found most of the characters very irritating particularly Dierdre, the mother (played superbly by Annette Benning) who I had absolutely no sympathy for at all.
I wouldn't go as far as saying avoid this film but there are better films out there to rent first.
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