Genres

Visitors Review

ozjeppe 2012-05-26 00:51:22

A highly unusual teenage upbringing... makes for a feel-good oddball of a movie!

A feel-good oddball of a movie with Wes Anderson-ish vibes, that almostonly could have come out of a true story, (as it is): Teenager Augustenis more or less dumped by his mentally unstable poet mother in the mid-70s, to live with the family's psychiatrist... who himself and familymake The Addams Family seem normal, by comparison! A bit episodic, but whimsical, sympathetic and warm comedy-drama of anhighly unusual teenage upbringing (and sexual awakening). Many great(and weird) moments and performances, especially by Bening, make this asmall winner!6 out of 10 from Ozjeppe

italian_man24 2012-05-25 08:09:50

Unique

Running With Scissors is a unique look at extreme personality types. Asomewhat surreal innovative movie that combines a great storyline witheven better cinematography.A little slow at first and somewhat boring as it sets the story inmotion. Then, it begins to peak your interest with twists and quirksthat you could never dream to predict. The different characters eachhave different mental issues and they just grab you and throw you rightinto the movie as if you were standing on set with them. If you saw the original trailer, it was very deceiving as it failed toexplain the plot well. There are too many underlying stories to fitthem all in one trailer.

moquikapm 2012-05-21 13:12:00

Is it a joke??

Maybe I didn't understand the message, maybe it wasn't properlytranslate into Spanish, maybe I am too thick... but this is one of thevery few films i really can say I hate. My friends and I were a bitshocked when we started to see it, most of them fell asleep, but Icouldn't. So I saw the hole film. If anyone cares about my opinion, Isay there are thousands and thousands of films out there waiting for achance which are millions of times better than this one. I don't knowabout the book, but the film is completely senseless. I can't give anopinion about the cast, as I saw it in Spanish. But if you don'tbelieve me, you can read the Memorable quotes, like the one about o theroom for masturbation or my favourite, the one which remembers a veryspecial fecal matter, which breaks out of the surface of the water.According to the film, THAT is a "direct communication from the HolyFather". Who on earth had the idea of doing this film?? I heard thatBrad Pitt was one of the producers, I don't know, but I would beashamed of producing a film like this. Horrible is the word to describeit.

2012-05-20 16:24:49

Good actors in search of a purpose

Make no mistake: Annette Bening does a fantastic job here as the mentally unbalanced, frustrated poet, and mother of the real life protagonist, Augusten Burroughs. Alec Baldwin does a nice turn as the alky father, while Paltrow, Wood, Cox, et. al. portray the messy and crazy Finch family which adopts Augusten for a while. Joseph Fiennes is also great in his role as Augusten's sometime lover.Sure, it's a great cast, but the year that it covers seems to drag on and on, with pervasive musical interludes, an unbelievable portrait of the Finches and their "house," and it is a chore to get through this film. There seems to be no point or purpose, there is very little humor, and it is quite unsatisfying as a memoir.Too bad these actors are wasted.

JOHN32982 2012-05-18 00:50:26

I fell Asleep

Any family guy fans who remember the parody of "indies" then will knowexactly what I am talking about. This is an example of what happenswhen people try to make the story and people too much like real lifeand do not add any "Hollywood" that makes these characters interesting.I fell asleep. I was bored. Every time I wanted to like someone thenBOOM I hated them again... First Nip Suck now this? Please stop makingeverything so girly! During the film I watch alec baldwin come in andthen just vanish and the rest of it was just so queer. Evan Rachel Woodwas the only thing that made me laugh. The jokes were corny. Benningwas awesome but it wasn't her fault the movie got boring it was thedirecting and it was so long that at the end of the film ( in Hollywoodmind you) people were just leaving of boredom. Please no more of thisnonsense.

Eric 2012-05-17 20:04:56

Hilariously Funny, Moving, and Creative

Once again it seems the general public disagrees with the critics! I saw this movie at a screening with a buddy of mine only because it was free - I thought it might be kinda funny, but that was it. On the contrary I haven't laughed that much in a movie theatre in years! But what makes this movie so great is that it's based on the real life Experiences of Augusten. It really happened - like he says in the opening of the movie, it's almost impossible to believe. Not only is this movie hiliarious, but it's also depressing, suprising, jaw-dropping, and moving. And it's so wonderfully written and directed by Ryan Murphy (who also created one of the best TV shows of all time - Popular) that the creativity of it keeps you always engaged in what's happening.It's just a great movie, one of the best I've seen all year! It does have a bit more foul language than I'd like in my films and the overall theme of the film is probably more mature than anyone under 18 can really appreciate. And I would say it is possibly the kind of movie where either you get it or you don't and if the kind of humor isn't the kind you get, then you'll probably hate it, but if it's your kind of humor the way it was mine, you'll love it!

2012-05-16 03:36:21

Dysfunctional childhood one would not wish to anyone

Several years ago, I attended C-SPAN's book tour in Chicago. Amongst many writers promoting their upcoming books was Augustin Burroughs. Although I never read his work, I knew his name and that he had a best selling memoir out -- at the time, when people were fabricating their own. I guess Augustin's childhood was such a preposterous one that other writers tried to match it to some degree by fictionalizing parts of their own. In any case, book reading was fun and Augustin was reading from his new book. I could see that this is a writer who prides himself on seeing humor in the obscene world around us. I was also struck by his openness and frankness that inlcued his sexual orientation as well. So when this movie came out I had to see it. I was hoping to capture his childhood and see how he became the man and writer that he is today. And while the film will keep you mesmerized about his growing up, his parents, his parents' divorce and unbelievable life afterwards, you will truly enjoy Annette Bening's portrayal of the middle aged bi-polar woman who is incapable of being a mother and cannot cope with her own miserable life. What does get lost in the film is the author's humor. Hence, four stars. But this story is so original that I guarantee you have never seen (or read) anything like this before.

BSUR 2012-05-15 11:03:39

worst piece of dribble

I love Annette Benning and she did a great job. Alec was good too butthe writing, the directing and pacing were terrible. The music wasjarring did not do a thing for the film.I noticed Mr Murphy took three credits at the end of the movie (1st toappear) so I guess he was very proud but I have no idea why. Why wouldyou take a great book and turn it over to a Nip/Tuck director is beyondme.You know sometimes you go to movies with great cast and you truly wantit to be good but no matter how hard the actors try it just is a badmovie. I almost walked out 3 times. At the theater I was at there wereonly 6 people in the 7:30 show on the 3 rd day of release so I guesspeople are staying away. Do not waste your time on this movie it hasvery little redeeming value.

candyaldridge 2012-05-12 15:38:08

Hmm....

First of all i know everyone is going to HATE this movie. I on theother hand loved it!! Background music, and sounds were perfect. (Orthe silence in some parts). Annete Benning was outstanding. She isperfect at capturing her characters stages over the years. Her bestperformance by far. And same goes for Joseph Cross (Augusten). I thinkthe most congrats goes to the director. (Ryan Murphy). Visuallyperfect, sound caught the right mood. Characters progressed at greatrates. I found the story that was being told was done tastefully. So ifyou like disturbed artsy type films u will love it. If u don't likethat kind of stuff stand clear, because i know u will hate this.

2012-05-11 20:31:58

Waste of time and money

I should have looked at the reviews before I subjected myself to what I thought would be a good movie. I watched the entire movie then removed it from the DVD player opened the back door and threw it across the yard. It will remain there until trash day and then it will reside in a land fill with all the other garbage.

2012-05-11 12:56:30

Mismarketed as comedy

...but, nonetheless, a naked look at insane people with children. I suspect it took alot of guts for Augusten Burroughs to let this hen out, and for that, I gotta throw in a star-he was, according to the extras, genuinely trepidatious towards making this a film until he met Ryan Murphy, who wears three hats here as screenwriter, director, and producer. 'Cause this is not a pretty tale: if this is reality, then it is 50 times stranger than fiction, beyond anything that say, Wes Anderson could imagine(he having mined the 'whacko family' subgenre a few times). Augusten's mother has delusions of grandeur about being an artist, and proceeds to embark on a journey of suffering and madness to become one- throwing 13 year-old Augusten's life into the hands of her shrink and his family. The shrink is a quack, treating with every discredited, discarded Freudian sublimation/repression theory one can think of. Oh, and he also has his family deeply ensconced in his madness. Mom goes lesbian, Augusten goes gay, and both of them search in vain for a place to belong-unfortunately, that place is not within the nexus of the Burroughs family. I think that is the heart of the movie, I don't know about the book. People suffer when they cannot appreciate what love they do have. I don't blame anyone for not liking this. There's plenty of reasons not to, but I find the writer rather brave if half of what was in this film really happened, and I suppose if that's what you like, against a killer 70's soft pop soundtrack, this is good stuff. You won't laugh much, or cry, you'll just be kind of stymied and bowled over contemplating the possibility that it really happened like this.

Jonathon Kim 2012-05-10 17:44:32

As the title suggest

Half way through the movie, I felt so ironic how the title got thedouble meaning, running with scissors, to cut the movie in half short.The movie was painfully slow, the transition between each shots were sopainfully long, I wondered this film ever been edited in real time. Itwas more painful than watch this film than watching a play that ispainfully long and pointless in the theater (You know the temptation towalk out but you can't). Analyzing characters and creating one isdifferent story, but all those bunch of people weren't really devotingto the story line much and the ending wasn't really meant much as theyare all escaping from the reality than trying to find an answer. Thehumor wasn't really bad, but it wasn't like bursting out big laughterbut was a kind of hissing out. The movie was only worthy seeingArnette, otherwise it was rather anything but ordinary. I guess thewriter( director)'s fascination to scissors (NIP/TUCK) is clearly shownhere too. Life isn't about cutting out the past or reality, the lifewill not be changed by cutting the fat on your face. It is rathersomething above all that. The director's black humor wasn't reallydeliver the full message through, I was kept thing about the scissors,if I could, if I could, cut this movie in half.. but I resisted topress 'fast forward' button too long, at the end of the movie, my braingot numbed and I was cranky, There's nothing worse than a movie that isdragging out. Don't run with scissor to cut anything! Just cut the damnmovie short! And note that happy life isn't really metaphysicalconsequences not escaping. One thing I was really impressed in themovie was the ending credit, somewhat it was surprising to see thedirector wasn't one of those replica of Tom Ford, who read "Sex and thecity" as a modern day bible. At least he was a real person. Glad!Indeed.

Gin-ster 2012-05-02 18:29:08

Faithful to book -- worth seeing for Burroughs aficionado

I felt that the movie was very faithful to the book, except for acouple of items that I wasn't sure about -- I don't recall Agneshelping Augusten "escape" to New York but I may have just forgotten.Also, there were sections that Augusten couldn't have known about if hewasn't present, such as his mother running into his father while thelatter was dating. Finally, the casting is a bit off, as the actorplaying Augusten seems older than warranted (although he does amarvelous acting job, as do all cast members). But other than that, itseemed like a very faithful recreation, to the point where the imagesin the movie seemed "in sync" with what I had in my head while readingit. For example, the scene where Augusten is first deposited in theFinch's kitchen and surveys the mess on the table -- that captured thesame feeling and look as the book's descriptions. Also, the famous"toilet" episode was faithfully included.In sum, I would say that fans of the book will, most likely, appreciatethe film. Those who are unfamiliar with the book may have trouble withit. For one thing, they may be nervous, wondering "Will Augusten cometo harm?" Readers of the book know that he did survive, as did Natalieand pretty much everyone else, but other viewers will perhaps feel abit squirmier while watching it. Secondly, it is painful to watch inparts (such as Augusten's mom eating the birthday candles, or hisfather refusing collect calls from him) so any "darkly comic" elementsthat were in the book are obliterated on screen, perhaps leavingviewers unfamiliar with Burroughs' work feeling "worse for the wear" atthe unfolding horror and tragedy.

barrys82 2012-05-02 00:26:11

Complex and interesting

This movie is weird but good. A complex film about the childhood ofnovelist Augusten Burroughs who had a bipolar-poet mother and aalcoholic father, they decide to divorce , Augusten finishes livingwith his mother's shrink an his screwed family. The story seemsinteresting, with a nice dark humor and tear dropping drama. The musicis excellent, it reflects the 70's perfectly. The cast is excellent,Annette Bening's performance was flawless, Joseph Fiennes has a veryconvincing role as Neil Bookman, Brian Cox as Dr. Finch great asalways, Evan Rachel Wood and Gwyneth Paltrow were very good also andJoseph Cross as Augusten Burroughs delivers a awesome and convincingacting job. This is a fully recommendable movie one of 2006 best.

hannahp1 2012-04-25 00:39:34

A comedy? This was a horror movie!!!

I just watched this movie on Starz and was sickened by this movie. Theway that these "parents" treated this young man was sickening. Everyperson in this movie should have been institutionalized. There was notone likable character.The pink house with all the junk in the yard? Please the neighborswould not allow this. Why doesn't anyone around this doctor see that heis absolutely crazy, he is prescibing medication to people to get themto sign over their money. The people this stupid deserve any crap thatthis creep takes from them.Horrible!!! How did Annette Bening get nominated in the comedy categoryat the Golden Globes? This was a warped drama!!! Stay away at allcosts!!!

Kevin Martin 2012-04-24 11:22:20

What a wild romp!

Running with Scissors takes you inside the memories of Augusten, anendearing kid growing up under the roof of a dysfunctional householdonly to find himself uprooted and transplanted into another equallytroubled one. The real unsettling twist is that his new surroundingsare even more questionable and more Edward Gory than he could everimagine. From there the film is a wild romp of scenes that build on each otheruntil every mentally challenged character is a pile of screaming chaos.As complex and unattractive as that sounds Running with Scissors is amust see, after all it is a comedy. It is highly-stylized and fashionconscious from the costume design to the glossy editing. The technicalaspects of the film are as redeeming as the grade of the entire castled by Annette Bening's iconic performance. I hope you'll find it asenjoying and engrossing as I did.

2012-04-18 02:58:42

Excess dysfunction

Running with Scissors is a slice of life movie which spends time leering into the lives of eccentrics and then ends with no revelations or culminating event. Unfortunately what comes before the movie fails to culminate is not very profound or insightful. It is marginally entertaining and somewhat troubling. The lead character in the movie is a 15-year old. His parents divorce, and his selfish mother sends him to live with her charlatan psychoanalyst and his similarly-acquired family. Lead is on course to become a writer (who eventually writes the non-fiction account upon which this movie is based), but we see little of his efforts to develop himself as a writer.All the performances were serviceable, save for Gwyneth Paltrow, who lazily regurgitates a role she played previously. Annette Benning is also essentially revisiting a role she played in a better movie. Mrs. Benning performed excellently and selflessly, but the similarity of the roles intruded on my view of the movie. It is a sure sign that Hollywood is producing too many dysfunctional family flicks when all actors have been consigned to act in them and some actors are serving a second term. Also growing tiresome is the treatment of gays in movies. The presence of one or more characters has become a requirement in films that explore a set of quirky characters. Furthermore, the gays are stereotypically endowed with greater passion and depth of emotion, and are put-upon or stifled by the stodgy straights. The most promising characters are the psychoanalyst's wife and adopted daughter.The movie has some colorful and funny scenes, but these are not enough to justify a viewing.

passthepopcorn6 2012-04-17 17:38:39

Keep an open mind.

I saw this movie last night and absolutely loved it. Being someone whohas, in the past, somewhat struggled with depression, I must have foundmuch more humor in it than others. I saw so much of myself and myworries in Augusten, but seeing them projected unto others made itunbearably funny; there were segments when I couldn't stop laughing,and I knew that Augusten would have been laughing along. Its this wholething of being able to laugh at yourself in hindsight, and realize howsilly it was all along, but how serious and dark it seemed at the time.I don't see many people, especially people with happy-go-luckyfollowing them about, being able to understand that.That being said, the complaint that most people had was that this moviewas not as quirky and bizarre as the trailers touted it, that it wasdark and gruesome and a disjointed, prolonged look at a dark andgruesome life. Well, thats what it was supposed to be. You cant flawanyone involved for creating it that way. Perhaps the trailers did skewit, but anyone looking for a fun, lighthearted movie about strangefamilies should go see something fun and lighthearted, like The FamilyStone. This is something different. This gets to the core of what itmeans to be dysfunctional, what it means to live in this idea of"bizarre" and "quirky" which so many people seem to think would be "funand lighthearted" to live through. It's not. This movie is, to apainful degree, brutally honest. Some may argue with me and say that itmust have been exaggerated, and I will give you that. Its a movie; ithas lots of comedy and satire strewn in. Yet it does not attempt tohide the most difficult things: insanity, suicide, homicide, egoism,greed, blindness, hatred.All of that aside, there are a lot of good things to be said about thismovie in terms of film-making. The editing was well done, and the set,particularly the Finch's house, was appropriately eerie. I loved it.I've heard some complain about the score, and certain songs not fittingwith the tone of the scene. I disagree; I think it was entirelyintentional. Not every sad scene is supposed to have a little violin,not every happy scene needs a big brass band. Sometimes, as oftenoccurs in this movie, the contrast of the music heightens the emotionof the scene by satirizing it and thus making it stand out more andhave more impact. If you let it distract you, then it will distractyou. If not, well then, it works. It certainly worked for me.The cast is unbelievably talented, and gave stellar performances. Iactually heard someone criticize the "inconsistency" of AnnetteBenning's character, and I almost choked I laughed so hard. Pardon me,but isn't insanity a rather inconsistent thing? Anyone who does not seethis as intentional and the work of a superb actress who manages tocapture what few of us could ever even fathom should really limitthemselves to Disney movies c. 1990. Even Gwenyth Paltrow, whosehilarious character was, if anything, sadly underused, was brilliant asthe psychotic daughter who believes she can communicate with her cat,Freud, through his purrs in REM sleep. Alec Baldwin is anotherperformer who I wish I could have seen more of, but for the few sceneshe was in, he seems to embody this other sort of life, other sort ofhappiness and sanity, despite the fact that his character was astruggling alcoholic. Stand out performances, however, were certainlyAnnette Benning, Evan Rachael Wood, Joseph Cross, and Jill Claybourgh.The only character who I believe was lacking in development was BrianCoxs character, Doctor Finch.I guess it doesn't surprise me that a lot of people didn't like thismovie...but I really wish more people could appreciate it or try tosympathize, even if they couldn't empathize. The fact that so fewpeople do is testament to how difficult it is to live in our world andnot be what everyone calls "normal."All in all, this movie certainly will not appeal to everyone. It is adifficult pill to swallow. It's not pretty, it's not happy, it's noteven "quirky." It's bitter, dark, pessimistic, and satirical. But ifyou can move past that, and appreciate each of these things which themovie IS, then you will find it so much easier to find what the movieSAYS about coming into your own.

JanNY 2012-04-16 22:53:59

Am I the only one?? (Spoiler)

I think this movie robbed me of 2 hours and 20 minutes of my life that I will never get back! At one point it got so absolutely disguisting that I turned to my friend and asked if we should leave. My biggest mistake was not leaving right at that point, for it only went downhill. The characters are totally unbelievable, well except for Augusten. I felt so badly for this child/teenager that I just wanted to hug and take him (to a normal) home. The doctor was insane and should never been allowed to treat anyone much less be outpatient from a mental institution . His wife was a tortured soul who sadly loved this nutcase.The only aspect I could possibly see for making this movie would be to show that through the insanity and disturbing childhood life experience of poor Augusten he never lost his resilience. Which every human spirit needs to exist. I can't believe anyone would clap after viewing this movie (as one critic has written here) much less walk out with an uplifted sense of oneself.

Addy 2012-04-16 10:33:59

This movie was such a disappointment

I loved the book. I love all of Augusten's books. He is a truly gifted author with a fantastic story to tell. This movie did not tell that story. If I had not read the book, I would have been totally lost and confused. The film only lightly touched on the emotions of the story and the actors had none of the development that the book so carefully described. The film seemed to highlight some points that were only secondary in the book itself. Ms. Benning was quite good, but how disappointing was Gwenyth? If not for the 3 second cameo of the author himself at the end, I would have just felt virtually no attachment to the book at all. Granted, it was a touchy subject to put on film, but it just seems that Ryan Murphy, who has more than proven himself in the past and currently (Nip/Tuck) could have done sooo much more with this.It did not work and the editing, in a word, HORRIBLE!I am sorry to have to write this, but this film truly fell woefully short of the expectations that I have built up over the past several months, since I first learned of the adaptation.