Running with Scissors (2006)

Director : Ryan Murphy
Cast : Annette Bening, Bryan Cox, Gwenyth Paltrow, Joseph Fiennes, Evan Rachel Wood, Alec Baldwin

Based on the memoirs of Augusten Burroughs, this movie follows the experience of a boy whose mother (Annette Bening) is a poet wannabe, and whose dissatisfaction with her own failure drives his father (Alec Baldwin) to alcoholism. When his parents divorce and his mother is not coping, Augusten is put into the care of his mother's therapist (Brian Cox). The house is out there, to say the least, and the family a mishmash of children from different backgrounds which the doctor has 'collected', and who are in one way or another unbalanced. The doctor, however, seems to take no care of any of them, in body or mind, making for an interesting household for a teenager going through the angst of adolescence to be in.

The movie looked very promising from the trailer and from the excellent cast, so naturally I had high expectations. The cast does not disappoint, they all act their parts well. What is lacking is any cohesion. There are so many interesting characters, but we never get to hear the whole story of any of them, they are simply hinted at and left to the breeze. One is left with a great deal of sympathy for the doctor's wife, but utter confusion regarding the choices and situations of the rest of the cast. What could have had the enjoyable oddity of the Royal Tenenbaums (2001) ended up leaving me bitter with disappointment as there was so much that could have been done to make me feel some connection to these strange characters, but I was left with no insight to them whatsoever. The problem may have been that the adaptation of Augusten Burroughs' memoirs were never actually adapted for the screen, but rather were crammed into a movie.
The director, Ryan Murphy, also did the screen play, so he was obviously keen to adapt the book. I will have to wait until I read the book before I can tell whether the faults in the storyline were his writing or actually trying to reflect the confusion of the protagonist.
Overall, I say, don't bother, unless you like cool 60s and 70s costumes!