Running with Scissors (2006)

Screen newcomer Joseph Cross portrays Augusten Burroughs in director Ryan Murphy's film adaptation of author Burroughs' best-selling personal memoir of the same name. A child of the 1970s whose alcoholic father, Norman (Alec Baldwin), and delusional, unpublished poet mother, Deirdre (Annette Bening), serve as the dictionary definition of the word "dysfunctional," Augusten is sent by his mother to live with her eccentric psychiatrist, Dr. Finch (Brian Cox), when his disagreeable parents ultimately decide to terminate their turbulent marriage. Suddenly thrust into an environment that is as unfamiliar as it is unpre...
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dictable, young Augusten forms a curious relationship with the doctor's two whimsical daughters while learning to adapt and survive under even the most unusual of circumstances.
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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 (...
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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.
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Op ware feiten gebaseerd verhaal over een jongen die door zijn moeder werd weggegeven en opgroeide bij een vreemde psychiater, die leek op de Kerstman. Op zijn 12de leeft de jongen temidden van de bizarre familie van de psychiater en raakt bevriend met de pedofiel, die in de achtertuin woont. Het leven van de familie kent geen regels en zit vol psychologische tegenstrijdigheden, valium en therapieën.

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