A Scientist at the Movies Reviews by Greg Paris

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Title: Running with Scissors

Date Viewed: 11/5/06

Details:

Annette Bening

Brian Cox

Joseph Fiennes

Evan Rachel Wood

Alec Baldwin

Joseph Cross

Jill Clayburgh

Gwyneth Paltrow

Screenplay, directed & produced by: Ryan Murphy

Score: -

The Review: First, don't believe the trailers. There's vanishingly little humor in this film. It might be more accurately classified as a dark, psychologically convoluted, autobiographical drama populated almost exclusively with characters that are at best self-absorbed neurotics and psychotics, and at worst morally and ethically corrupt -- and that includes the physician! Second, be prepared to be uninterested or bored for at least the first third or so. I nearly nodded off several times while trying to pump up enough interest to stay tuned, and to sustain sufficient firing in my reticular activation system to stay focused.

And autobiographical it is supposed to be: the author's erstwhile perspective of growing up in a household whose parents are at each other's throats, metaphorically, and where the solution is for the mother to give her son up for adoption by her shrink, literally. The vision is self-indulgent, strained, and unfulfilling. But contrary to Science of Sleep, not only did I dislike this, it also did not impress me as a particularly good film. But damn it, by the time it's nearly finished, you've actually become sufficiently invested in the characters to have more than a vague interest in the Man for All Seasons-like terminal summary. I must grant it some effectiveness, at that -- some, but not a lot, and certainly not worth the time expended. Perhaps I was in a peculiarly satire-insensitive mood, but I'd hoped for a bit more entertainment.

I did not know who Augusten Burroughs was before watching it, and afterwards still have no abiding interest; I'm certainly not running off to the library in search of the eponymous title. Scissors certainly does not inspire caring. But the acting is first rate! Bening is impressive as a psychotic bitch, and Clayburgh is a quiet surprise as the doctor's wife -- mostly appearing as if lobotomized, but don't believe a second of it. The score is uninteresting (a surprise, considering it comes from James Levine), but the occasional music used for punctuation and emphasis worked quite well. Bening's scene with Springsteen's "Blinded by the Light" was particularly effective.

(5-Nov-06)

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