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| Running With Scissors |
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  (9/10)
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Runtime: 116 |
| Public Rating: 6.04 (26 votes) |
Director: Ryan Murphy |
MPAA Rating:  |
| Genre: Drama/Comedy |
Year: 2006 |
| Writer(s): Ryan Murphy (screenplay), Augusten Burroughs (memoirs) |
| Distributor: Sony Pictures |
| Reviewed by: Mel Valentin |
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Directed and adapted for the screen by Ryan Murphy (Nip/Tuck) from Augusten Burroughs' memoir, Running with Scissors is the rarest of rare comedy-dramas, a tonally balanced, poignant exploration of surviving not one, but two, deeply dysfunctional families as an adolescent growing up in the 1970s. Running With Scissors also takes down other 70s-era staples, e.g., self-help, self-empowerment, psychiatry, and over-prescribed anti-depressants, all with the blackest of black comedy. At its core, however, Running With Scissors combines a survival drama with satire and universal emotional truths into something startling original, honest and authentic, as rare in Hollywood as it is in independent cinema.
1971. Only six, Augusten Burroughs (Jack Kaeding) is trapped in the ongoing conflict between his alcoholic mathematics professor father, Norman (Alec Baldwin) and his mentally unstable mother, Deirdre (Annette Bening). Norman is typical of his era, hard working, hard drinking, and befuddled at his wife’s need for personal fulfillment through art. Deirdre imagines herself a great, if still unpublished, confessional poet in the Sylvia Plath or Anne Sexton mode. Unfortunately, Deirdre is unpublished for a reason: she has limited talent. Rather than accept her limitations, externalizes her frustrations, striking out at Norman for his lack of sensitivity to her goals and ignoring the attention- and affection-starved Augusten.
Flash forward eight years. Norman and Deirdre are still together, but just barely. Their constant fights have taken an emotional toll on Augusten (Joseph Cross), who keeps a journal handy to record his experiences. Norman and Deirdre decide to seek counseling and seemingly find it in the avuncular Dr. Finch (Brian Cox). A psychiatrist, Dr. Finch suggests daily, five-hour long counseling. Norman understandably balks at Dr. Finch’s unorthodox methods. Deirdre sees Dr. Finch as her personal savior and doesn’t blink an eye when he gives her and Augusten a tour of his personal Masturbatorium. Unfortunately, Augusten finds Hope (Gwyneth Paltrow), Dr. Finch’s oldest spinster daughter.
Norman and Deirdre’s relationship ends, Deirdre continues her therapy sessions with Dr. Finch (now with regular doses of Valium), but the sessions are soon moved to Finch’s home, a sprawling, overstuffed, pink mansion, where a curious Augusten meets the other members of Dr. Finch’s eccentric family, Natalie Finch (Evan Rachel Wood), a teen rebel, Agnes (Jill Clayburgh), Dr. Finch’s bedraggled wife, and Neil Bookman (Joseph Fiennes), Dr. Finch’s “adopted” son and former patient (Dr. Finch and Bookman are estranged). Augusten’s temporary stay at the Finch home becomes permanent, however, when Dr. Finch suggests that Deirdre can only make progress unencumbered by caring for Augusten. Augusten becomes Dr. Finch’s legal ward.
As Augusten, Joseph Cross is mostly a passive, reactive presence, but that’s primarily a function of character. After all, Augusten is a teenager compelled by circumstances to live with an eccentric family, finding friends and relationships (notably Natalie and Bookman) where he can find them. Cross’ performance may be limited by the material, but he’s never less than note perfect, especially in the heavy emotional scenes he has to share with Annette Bening. As the unstable, needy, often desperate Deirdre, Bening is given the opportunity to show a wide range of emotions and, while persuasive, she overdoes the histrionics in one or two scenes. As Augusten's truant father, Alec Baldwin's character practically disappears, but when he is onscreen (in the early scenes and one late scene), he brings his trademark intensity, which he turns to good effect during Norman's blowout fights with the volatile Deirdre.
The supporting cast, led by Brian Cox (The Bourne Identity, Manhunter) as the eccentric, possibly unstable patriarch of the Finch family, are equally fine, with Evan Rachel Wood giving another standout performance (Down and Out in Valley, Thirteen). British born Joseph Fiennes (Enemy at the Gates, Shakespeare in Love) is practically unrecognizable as the disturbed, obsessive Bookman, a testament to his ability to immerse himself into the role. Oddly, it’s hard to understand why Gwyneth Paltrow took the role of Hope in Running With Scissors, since her part contributes little except idiosyncratic coloring to the central storyline. Given Paltrow’s reputation and stature, Paltrow becomes an unnecessary distraction as moviegoers will expect, but won’t get, Paltrow in a significant role.
Running With Scissors’ faults are few and far between. Outside of Bening’s slightly off-key performance, any real objection or criticism will likely center on the veracity and verisimilitude of Burroughs’ larger-than-life experiences and Murphy’s interpretation of Burroughs’ memoirs, especially in light of the recent James Frey debacle. If, however, we assume that Burroughs’ memoir is the usual mix of fact, extrapolation, compression, and (perhaps) exaggeration, any objection has to overcome a seemingly compelling counter-argument, that Running With Scissors contains universal emotional truths.
But Running With Scissors doesn’t just take on complexities of living with and surviving a dysfunctional family (two families in Augusten’s case). Burroughs takes on some of the worst excesses of the 1970, up to and including self-help/self-empowerment fads, psychiatry, and over-prescribed anti-depressants. Burroughs’ satirical swipes are certainly well deserved, as anyone who lived through the 1970s can readily attest. But satire alone isn’t enough (it rarely is). Burroughs knows that as does writer/director Ryan Murphy. Anyone with a dysfunctional family, up to and including a family member with long-term emotional or mental problems, can certainly attest to those truths. Add to that list some of the worst parenting put on film and dysfunctional family dynamics, and Running With Scissors.
Ultimately, Bening’s performance, her unsympathetic character (which raises a moral not aesthetic objection), and the seemingly contrived premise will probably stop some moviegoers from giving Running with Scissors a chance. That’d be mistake, though, as moviegoers who do give Running With Scissors a chance will catch an often painfully insightful comedy-drama about families and the psychic damage they can cause, which can be summarized in the tagline from a long ago issue of Granta, “Families, They F*ck You Up.”
© Mel Valentin, 20th October, 2006
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