Directed by Ryan Murphy. Starring Joseph Cross, Annette Bening, Brian Cox, Alec Baldwin, Evan Rachel Wood, Jill Clayburgh, Gwyneth Paltrow, Joseph Fiennes. Comedy/Drama/Historical. Synopsis: The story of real life writer Austen Burroughs chaotic childhood with his supremely dysfunctional parents and his ultimate adoption by the psychologist treating his mother, who is clearly descending into his own unique madness.
Running with Scissors is a very unique kind of dark comedy mixed with drama, it was not until the end of the flick and the special features on DVD that I realized that it was supposed to be based on true life events of Augusten Burroughs, author of a book by the same name in the form of a personal memoir.
There is a line in the voice over narration towards the end of the film that indicates that the Burroughs character (Joseph Cross) doesn't believe that anyone else would believe what he says about his childhood. Well, he is right about that. Not that I am accusing the filmmakers of producing a fictional piece and calling it "true", but you have to think there is some embellishment and/or dramatic license going on, though it is clear that real people are depicted in the film.
Augusten Burroughs is the child of a paranoid mother (Annette Bening The American President) who has visions of her own impending poetic greatness and a detached father (Alec Baldwin The Departed) who gets away from the growing madness in his own home via the bottle. Their marriage is laughably horrible, with their verbal fights and put downs that you laugh at, even though you know you shouldn't, being played out right in front of the teen age Augusten.
They make an attempt to salvage what is left of their "family" by going to the obviously unstable Dr. Finch (Brian Cox Last Shot at Glory). To say that Cox steals the show would be an understatement, and is in no way a slap at the other members of this fine cast. Dr. Finch who, with the blessing of Augustus' mom, adopts the teen ager into his own dysfunctional family, is stark raving mad in a quiet, learned kind of way. You have to see it to complete understand how brilliant Cox is in this hilarious and poignant role (poignant when you realize that this is a real person or if you have known someone with mental illness; hilarious because you can't help but laugh at some of his antics and you realize that he is a doctor), my words won't do it justice.
The Finch family is interesting, too. Mrs. Finch (Jill Clayburgh) might be the only completely sane and stable member. The youngest daughter (Evan Rachel Wood) is sane, but not stable, and she immediately buddies up with Augustus, both teens sharing in the dysfunction and madness of their favorite parent. The older sister (Gwyneth Paltrow Seven), Dr. Finch's self professed favorite daughter, is simply insane in her quiet beauty.
All of these good actors carry their own weight and more, in the case of Baldwin and Paltrow, you have a couple of heavyweight actors lending themselves to relatively minor, but important, roles. That's good because it helps make this flick a little better than good. Joseph Cross needs some "props", as the young kids say, for holding his own onscreen with major players like Bening, Clayburgh, and Cox.
I'm not sure what you will take from Running with Scissors, but I'm sure that you will take something from it, which is more than you can say for most films you've ever seen, right?
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