Running with it...

A great man once said what another man, possibly great, once wrote: "shit happens"

In "Running with Scissors", shit happens alright, over and over and over again. The movie was amazing in its ability to make my friends and I hate most of the characters. The alcoholic father was by far more sympathetic than the insane, pill-popping mother, who is then more likeable (but not by much) than the sociopathic shrink. The Good Doctor(Dr. Finch) is an amazing array of messed up , too-enlightened-to-the-point-of-apathetic, and possibly evil. He lives in a massive, dilapidated house in Western Mass with his sad, creepy wife (Agnes), his haughty, too-close daughter (Hope), and another daughter (Natalie), who would be likeable if she wasn't so careless with the people around her.

Our narrator (Augusten) is the son of the aforementioned alcoholic and pill-popper. The former leaves when things get too crazy, and the latter gives away her son to Dr. Finch, who proceeds to make his life even worse than it was before. Augusten enters the house neurotic, unhappy, and detatched. He leaves it neurotic, unhappy, confused, betrayed, and desperate. The whole movie is one depressing cut after another, and my friends and I were furious, at the end, that we had watched it. Here was a movie with no joy, no pay-off, not even a genuine smile, nor any retribution. The few moments of humanity are tainted with cruelty or apathy, and all but three of the characters just infuriated us beyond redemption. We thought.

In the last few moments, though, something happened. I'll not tell you what, because you have to see it yourself, but just know, my previously despondant friend declared it "one of the best movies I've ever seen".

Watch it. Watch Jill Clayburgh as Agnes, the enigmatic creature that lurks until a moment of directness that hurts to see. Watch Joseph Cross as the nervous and uncomfortable Augusten, even if he is a bit dull at times. Even Alec Baldwin managed to make his alcoholic human, despite the mistakes he made. If you like Annette Bening, you might like her here--I hated her character thoroughly, and that might be your cup of tea. Perhaps you like quirky, out of control teens, and Evan Rachel Wood piques your interest, or the creepily bizarre young woman Gwyneth Paltrow plays could be more of a draw. Whatever your reasons, though, please watch this movie. You'll thank me... and if you don't feel like that at the end of it all, well, at least you'll be glad when it's over :)