Strictly for the Anderson-Baumbach crowd of privileged idiots
Running with Scissors (2006)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:127
Fresh:38
Rotten:89
Average Rating:5/10
Consensus: Despite a few great performances, the film lacks the sincerity and emotional edge of Burroughs' well-loved memoir.
Runtime: 2 hrs 2 mins
Genre: Comedies
Theatrical Release:2006
Box Office: $6,754,898
Synopsis: Based on the bestselling memoir by Augusten Burroughs, RUNNING WITH SCISSORS features an all-star cast including Annette Bening, Brian Cox, Evan Rachel Wood, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Alec Baldwin. As a... Based on the bestselling memoir by Augusten Burroughs, RUNNING WITH SCISSORS features an all-star cast including Annette Bening, Brian Cox, Evan Rachel Wood, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Alec Baldwin. As a child, Augusten (Joseph Cross) completely adores his narcissistic mother Deirdre (Bening). Her biggest fan, he encourages her goal of becoming a published poet when no one else will. But while these dreams of grandeur seem innocent through Augusten's young eyes, they grow more delusional with time, slowly wearing on the family and contributing to its demise. While a teenage Augusten skips school and his father Norman (Alec Baldwin) uses alcohol to escape, Deirdre calls in an eccentric psychiatrist for an outside opinion. Dr. Finch's advice ends up being anything but professional, however, as his looseness with prescriptions and wacko theories end Deirdre's dysfunctional marriage and prompt her to abandon Augusten. Left to spend his teenage years as part of Dr. Finch's outlandish family, Augusten struggles to find himself while surrounded by a series of tormented and over-analyzed individuals. Director Ryan Murphy relies heavily on music to express the emotions of his characters and to ground viewers in time, bringing the memoir to life with classic 1970s songs by Elton John, the Average White Band, and Nat King Cole. Seemingly modeled visually after Wes Anderson's THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS, the film revolves around intricately over-the-top sets which aim to reflect the neuroses of its characters. In making most of the film as dramatic as possible, Murphy sometimes threatens to overshadow what are undeniably fine actors at work. The film's saving grace comes in its non-fiction source material, as viewers without that knowledge may find the characters too peculiar and the story too unbelievable for their own good. [More]
Starring: Annette Bening, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jill Clayburgh, Brian Cox
Starring: Annette Bening, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jill Clayburgh, Brian Cox, Joseph Fiennes, Alec Baldwin, Evan Rachel Wood, Joseph Cross, Gabrielle Union, Patrick Wilson, Kristin Chenoweth, Dagmara Dominczyk
Director: Ryan Murphy
Director: Ryan Murphy
Producer: Dede Gardner, Brad Pitt, Brad Grey, Matt Kennedy
Studio: Columbia Pictures
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Reviews for Running with Scissors
Based on Augusten Burrough's memoir, "Running With Scissors" traverses the '70's American zeitgeist in eccentric personal terms when the American dream plummeted into horror with the aid of prescription drugs.
Running With Scissors is a schizophrenic film. It simply doesn't know what it wants to be %u2014 a witty and wacky satire, or a serious and heartfelt drama.
For every aspect that is depressing, there something that is fresh and uplifting, and it is credit to writer director Ryan Murphy for capturing the mood of Burroughs' book so faithfully.
The excruciating display of bohemian spoils wears the word "delightful" in quotation marks, with a theatre accent.
The first half rolls along like an excitable child hoping to entertain with each new stunt. But it loses the book's dark humour. Running with Scissors? More like a stumble.
Running With Scissors has a great cast and an appropriately chaotic nature, but it never really adds up to anything and fails to hit its emotional targets.
In its attempt to capture Burroughs' wacky, often wrenching teen years, the film is unified mainly by an impulse toward overstatement.
Well-acted by the superb ensemble cast but there just isn't a likeable character amongst them to care about.
I had hoped, I guess, that the film would do justice to the book, but sadly that is not the case. If I were you, go out and spend the money on the paperback, curl up and give yourself over to the wacky world Burroughs' creates. It'll be more fulfilling th
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