Running With Scissors Blu-Ray with Joseph Cross, Annette Bening, Brian Cox (R) +Movie Reviews

If You Think Your Family Is Nuts...

Cherise Everhard | Michigan, USA | 04/23/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"...they'll seem like the poster children for mental and emotional health, after watching this film!

Augusten Burroughs (Joseph Cross) grows up in a household with his mother, Deirdre (Annette Benning), who has severe mental stability issues. I am no psychiatrist so I am not even going to try to label her. He also has an alcoholic father, Norman (Alec Baldwin), who seems to have little to no interest in his son. In fact, because of his absence, I thought at the beginning of the film Augusten's parents were already divorced.

Deirdre is more dependant on her son than he is on her, he seems to care for her, and she seems to lean on him. She is an aspiring poet who lets her son skip school to do her hair and plan parties. The mother and father fight right in front of Augusten without a thought to him or his feelings. After a rather explosive fight they seek marital counseling and that's our introduction to the colorful Dr. Finch (Brian Cox). Through a series of events Augusten ends up living with the Finch's and we are wrapped up in another household filled with the emotionally and mentally unstable.

Despite his surroundings, you watch Augusten grow up to be relatively 'normal'. In his need for stability and normalcy, he finds the unlikely hero in the form of the long suffering housewife of Dr.Finch, Agnes (Jill Clayburgh). She really touched me in the way she cared for Augusten.

With all the craziness that occurs in this film, it should be a lot darker than it is. Surprisingly this movie makes humor out of situations that should horrify. I laughed more than I cried; I giggled more than I gasped. In real life, none of the situations portrayed would be amusing, I don't think I could have watched the film without the humor; it would have been too depressing. The acting in this movie, by everyone, was absolutely excellent, real and flawless. The movie reminded me a bit of The Royal Tenenbaums, the crazy, surreal family.

This was a good movie and I really enjoyed it, but it did make me think people should have to pass a series of tests in order to procreate and raise children, yikes!

"

Dark Humor found in a dysfunctionally functional childhood

Concerned One | Clarinda, IA | 02/08/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This was a plesent surprise to pick up and watch the film adaptation of this book based on the memiors of Augusten Burrough, who at the age of 15 was signed away by his mother into the guardianship of her psychiatrist. This movie does an excellent job of portraying mental illness (bipolar and schizophrenia) and what actually occurs in the minds and daily lives of those who struggle with it. As for the Dr. Fitch, he is the exception to regular psychiatry, with loose boundaries and inappropriate relations with patients ended actually helping one of them. To those with mental illness, what appears to be real or "normal" to them can appear unbelievable to us. For Agusten, he grew up with no rules or boundaries, and it is amazing to see what will and insight can do. This is a great depiction of someone who overcame tremendous barriers to become something great. Thank him for sharing it with us. Rent this buy this read this, worth the time"

Best movie of the year

Kendra | 10/08/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I don't know how I could have missed this when it first came out. Augusten Burroughs is my favorite memoirist and I've read all his books and praise them all. So, when I heard that Running with Scissors was being made into a film I was thrilled. I think, though, when I saw that it was marketed as a comedy AND the reviews were just mediocre, I decided not to see it. Big mistake.

This is an amazing story. And, the cast was incredible-- the acting absolutely superb. I am just shocked at the poor reviews here. Not one thing was wrong with this movie. Really. Not one thing.

Jill Clayburgh and Annette Benning should have received an Academy for their part in this. Brian Cox was fantastic. And Joseph Cross, as Augusten was absolutely perfect. I can't praise Cross enough and I don't think too many people would have been able to pull this character off. Knowing Burroughs from his books, you see he has a caustic yet self-deprecating wit. But, to actually SEE him as the child he was-- maintaining his innocence while being exposed to horrendous circumstances he was exposed to actually made me appreciate Burroughs even more than I already do. Alec Baldwin, as always, played his brief part perfectly-- with empathy and depth.

Burroughs grew up in one of the most dysfunctional homes you will ever read about. After his parents divorced, he lived with his mentally ill and completely narcissistic mother until she handed Augusten over to her just-as-mentally-ill psychiatrist to raise him. The environment in this psychiatrist's home has to be seen (or read about) to be believed. Poor Augusten lived there for several years while his mother attempted to "find herself" and nurture herself at her son's expense. She even had the psychiatrist adopt her son.

Ironically, although it is difficult not to blame Burroughs' mother in all this- she's the epitome of narcissism-- the truth is, the MD is really the one to be reviled. Had his mother been treated by almost any other mental health professional rather than this one, it is likely everyone in Augusten's family would have been better off. Instead of treating his patients, the doctor did everything to mistreat them. I would like to believe that he was just insane, too, with no evil intent. But the truth is, I'm not so sure.

Somehow, despite his childhood, Augusten Burroughs became an adult to be admired. He went through incredibly difficult times, even after he left the psychiatrist's home. But, he persevered and his character was not permanently damaged. When reading his other books, it's clear that he analyzes all his behaviors and feelings and strives to be the best person he can possibly be.

This film is NOT a comedy. It has comedic elements, but it is a travesty that it was marketed as a comedy. One of the things that makes Burroughs' books so good is his dry (almost gallows) humor. But, his life isn't really a comedy. It's a tragedy that, thankfully, has a happy ending. Yes, I laughed at some parts, but it's laughter at the horror of what he lives through and the insanity of his environment. This movie is one of the most gut-wrenching films I've seen and should have been marketed entirely differently.

I really hope that the bad reviews here won't deter you from either purchasing or renting this film. I can't praise it highly enough."

Dark Pyshological Comedy

B. Merritt | WWW.FILMREVIEWSTEW.COM, Pacific Grove, California | 02/08/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Definitely one of the most dark psychological comedies to come along in years, RUNNING WITH SCISSORS has an excellent cast telling a truly warped story. What makes this even more interesting is that it's semi-autobiographical. Based on the life of Augusten Burroughs and his dysfunctional surroundings, young actor Joseph Cross does an excellent job in portraying what it must've been like to grow up an adolescent amidst the chaos of mental illness, yet come out the other end as a functioning adult.

Annette Bening stars as Deidre Burroughs, Augusten's unstable mother, and does so brilliantly. Her mood swings and mental breakdowns are frightening, tear-jerky, and funny all at the same time. When she sets up Augusten to be adopted by her psychiatrist, the audience feels both a sense of relief and a terrible foreboding. Brian Cox stars as the manipulative yet strangely lovable psychoanalyst, Dr. Finch. His family is a mish-mash of his own kids and those he's adopted and taken advantage of financially. His wife Agnes, played superbly by Jill Clayburgh, is one of the shining lights in the film, giving us a much needed resting post to lean against while trying to grasp the amazing flaws of everyone else (she has her shortcomings, too, but they aren't as broad).

The story pulls no punches either, showing how Augusten's early development lead him toward homosexuality, Dr. Finch discussing his masturbatorium (figure it out), Deidre exploring lesbianism after a nasty divorce from her husband (played very well by Alec Baldwin), and the discovery of bowel movements as prognosticators.

The only downside to the entire movie was that it feels unbalanced, sometimes accelerating through scenes in mere seconds before grabbing traction again and moving fluidly forward.

One could also see the screenplay being a complete disaster if it weren't for the all-star, powerhouse cast. Brian Cox, Annette Bening, Alec Baldwin, Gwyneth Paltrow, Evan Rachel Woods, Joseph Fiennes, and many, many others lend their ample talents to the film. But the ending certainly makes up for any lagging script qualities. To learn that Augusten survived this raucous period in his life and came out the other end still a productive member of society is something to marvel at. And you probably will..."

Too clean for a messy story

Keira Dodd | 03/30/2007

(2 out of 5 stars)

"Before watching the movie, I had read the book. Consequently, I was looking forward to seeing the story come to life on the silver screen. Unfortunately, the story didn't survive its on-screen adaptation. Although many of the events were similar, the film lost much of the hideous reality of Augustine Burrough's childhood. Reading the book, I could see how something like this could happen in real life. However, the movie Hollywood-ized the original story to make it palatable to the common movie-goer, who seems to like things tidy. The Finch home in the story bristled with life. Its messiness seemed to leap from the page. The movie killed that life. I felt distanced from the mess. I didn't live with it like I did when reading the book. I wanted to see the remains of last month's meal lying on top of the television. I wanted to see the roaches crawling across the unwashed dishes in the kitchen. Instead, we got long shots of the mess that didn't allow us to really look at it.

I was also displeased with the changes to the story itself. Instead of many children, Dr. Finch had only two. In real life, a man like that would have more than two children. It just makes sense because of his philosophy on life being less than conservative. In addition, the extra children made the family seem larger and crazier. As I was reading, I could hardly keep everyone straight. Also, Agnes in the movie was transformed into a foil for Augustine's mother. Although Agnes wasn't a perfect mother in the movie, she was better than Deidre. She gave Augustine a small piece of sanity in an otherwise chaotic world. In the book Augustine didn't seem to have that. Agnes certainly wasn't put together enough to be a mother to him. Instead, she seemed to me to be an embodiment of the house-- broken and in need of repair. But Hollywood seems to need things neat and tidy. It needs to give Augustine a mother when he needs one.

However, real life isn't like that. In real life it can happen that a child like Augustine could be left adrift without anyone at all. The Augustine of the memoir didn't seem to have anyone to turn to, unless you count Neil Bookman, the disturbed older man who practically raped Augustine during their first sexual encounter, or Natalie, who was just as lost as Augustine was, if not more so.

As for Natalie herself... in the book, she was very self-conscious about her weight. She and Augustine would eat at McDonald's, and she'd call herself a cow. In the movie, she was thin and, despite the heavy makeup, almost model-worthy. Again, the movie took a real life person and shaped her into a Hollywood version of herself. And Hope was even more of a stereotype than a real person. She was just crazy and frigid. We didn't see the side of her that was a friend to Augustine in the early years.

In short, the movie sucked the life out of the book and created a bland, un-entertaining cliche of a film that wasn't even interesting in its own right, let alone when being compared to the book. My two friends who'd never read the book didn't like it any more than I did.

I just want to yell at Hollywood to stop imitating itself. It's like the execs have found a formula, and they are afraid to deviate from it, even for something more interesting. If they'd have stuck to the book a little more closely and been more true to life, people would have wanted to watch because of how real it was-- and how surreal. What kept me reading was that I knew that Augustine's kind of life was being lived right now. I'm an English teacher, and I often wonder what kinds of homes my students go to. The book opened that world up to me, and although I didn't like what I saw, I could understand it better having read about it. Sadly, the movie took all that poignancy away and left a hollow shell. The only redeeming part of the movie was its soundtrack, which somehow made the film more tolerable. Overall, I would not recommend this movie to anyone. I would, however, recommend the book. It was an interesting read about an interesting life, and the movie didn't even come close to doing it justice."

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