Intermittently funny and grating.
Comment
08/29/05
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The Talent Given Us (2004)
58
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:48
Fresh:28
Rotten:20
Average Rating:6.2/10
Consensus: The Talent Given Us is an odd hybrid of reality and fiction, but works due to its engaging characters.
Theatrical Release:Jun 17, 2005 Limited
Synopsis: Like a cinema vérité version of THE DAYTRIPPERS, writer-director Andrew Wagner's quirky indie dramedy THE TALENT GIVEN US fashions a hilarious, unconventional, but ultimately moving take on family... [More]
Starring: Allen Wagner, Judy Wagner, Emily Wagner, Maggie Wagner
Director: Andrew Wagner
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Reviews for The Talent Given Us
We're encouraged to believe that at least some of what we're hearing is a reflection of 'real' family concerns, but the film makes it impossible to tell what's genuine and what's pretend in all the soul-baring.
08/26/05
Stuck in a van with these annoying motor mouths left me wanting to scream.
08/21/05
The Talent Given Us is disarming in its fearless confrontation with mortality and the perpetual quest for nothing less than life.
08/21/05
Pretty much a stunt, and not an entirely successful one...on balance the nuggets are embedded in just too much dross.
08/16/05
Most of us really, really don't want to be a fly on the wall while somebody else's family works out its issues in interstate therapy sessions.
08/12/05
It's not as much fun as taking a road trip with your own family, but at least you're not stuck in the backseat of the car.
08/12/05
May give even die-hard voyeurs the heebie-jeebies ... Anybody who has ever suffered through someone else's slide reel should consider this fair warning.
08/11/05
Autobiographical or not, the frankness and family hysteria of this rolling therapy session gets awkwardly intimate and at times tough to endure...
08/11/05
The big problem with this verité film is that nothing in it is verified. Verily, a lot of it is just B.S.
08/10/05
It's fiction -- but it's fiction with the cutting edge of truth. It's so funny, it hurts.
07/29/05
The rhythm is that of a Christopher Guest mockumentary, and the acting is a near-perfect match.
07/28/05
Ultimately the film's insights and observations seem not so much universal as self-absorbed and solipsistic.
07/12/05
After awhile, you start feeling as if you've been cooped up with the Upper West Side's answer to 'The Bickersons' for way too long. Yet in the end, The Talent Given Us represents a highly original filmmaking debut for Wagner.
07/05/05
It's difficult to see how this picture -- essentially chronicling a long car trip -- could mean much to anyone but the Wagners and their friends and relatives.
07/01/05
Top Critic...confounding, funny, horrifying, and eventually irresistibly absorbing.
06/30/05
The Talent Given Us appalls as much as it entertains.
06/30/05
A film of uncommon originality.
06/29/05
Top CriticAs a sheer comedy, The Talent Given Us is head and shoulders above most if not all comedies of 2005 thus far.
06/27/05
I think it’s an interesting experiment, but it was very difficult for me to make it all the way to the end.
06/20/05
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