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6 Degrees Entertainment

'Running With Scissors'
(Annette Bening, Brian Cox, et al / DVD / R / (2006) 2007 / Columbia Pictures)

Overview: The story of how a boy was abandoned by his mother and how he, later, abandoned her. The year he's 14, the parents of Augusten Burroughs (1965- ) divorce, and his mother, who thinks of herself as a fine poet on the verge of fame, delivers him to the eccentric household of her psychiatrist, Dr. Finch. During that year, Augusten avoids school, keeps a journal, and practices cosmetology. His mother's mental illness worsens, he takes an older lover, he finds friendship with Finch's younger daughter, and he's the occasional recipient of gifts from an unlikely benefactor. Can he survive to come of age?

DVD Verdict: Augusten Burroughs' best-selling 2002 childhood memoir is rife with such a twisted sense of humor that a reader can either ride with it or be appalled by it. As guided by "Nip and Tuck" writer/director Ryan Murphy, the movie follows the same polarity pretty faithfully, but the 2006 screen translation is so bumptious about its heightened sense of reality that it is hard to embrace the more humanistic aspects of Burroughs' traumatizing story. The convoluting plot focuses on Augusten as a young boy abandoned by his delusional, aspiring poetess mother Deirdre to live with her pompous, cavalier psychiatrist, Dr. Finch. From there, the movie follows him through adolescence as he recognizes himself as gay and goes into untested waters exacerbated by Augusten's unusual living situation.

Coming from a broken home, he enters into the orbit of the even more dysfunctional Finch family where he comes to terms with his need for some semblance of order and emotional independence in his life. Burroughs' dark humor is served up by a stellar cast with varying levels of effectiveness. Joseph Cross plays Augusten in an overly pensive manner that makes it difficult to sympathize with his melancholic plight. Annette Bening, on the other hand, does a masterful turn as Deirdre, toning down the inherent flamboyance of the role in a more affecting way than she did in "American Beauty". Brian Cox subtly conveys the pixilated narcissism of Finch, and it's good to see Jill Clayburgh, however deglamorized, etch a memorable portrait as Finch's agoraphobic wife Agnes. Evan Rachel Wood does another wild-child turn as youngest daughter Natalie, who connects with Augusten's sense of isolation.

In a smallish role that recalls a similar role in "The Royal Tannenbaums", Gwyneth Paltrow forlornly plays older daughter Hope as a morbid, cat-loving spinster, while her "Shakespeare in Love' co-star Joseph Fiennes, sporting an unconvincing American accent, overdoes the role of angst-filled, adopted gay brother Neil. Richard Sherman's elaborate production design deserves special mention, especially in the way he has laid out the overstuffed Finch home, so impressive that it is featured in one of the three shorts included in the 2007 DVD. Burroughs himself is spotlighted in "A Personal Memoir by Augusten Burroughs", where he explains the genesis of the book and movie from his own life story, while "Inside Outsiders" has the cast (except Paltrow) explain how they approached their individual roles. However, this only highlights how the gallery of bizarre characters, taken as a whole, can be wearing over the course of the film's two-hour running time. Surprisingly, Murphy offers no commentary track. Regardless, thank you Augusten. If you made it then I'm sure anyone can. This is a Widescreen Presentation (2.40:1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs and comes with the Special Features of:
Three behind-the-scenes featurettes:
"A Personal Memoir by Augusten Burroughs" – The author relates to how he wrote the book, why he selected Ryan Murphy to adapt it, and how he worked with the cast to help them step into this very specific world.
"Inside Outsiders" - The cast discusses how they created their extreme characters.
"Creating the Cuckoo’s Nest" - The Production designer and director Ryan Murphy discuss how they created the crazy Finch home. Take a guided tour of this domestic freak show.

www.SonyPictures.com





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