Customer Reviews

Running With Scissors

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(31)
3 star:		(21)
2 star:		(21)
1 star:		(26)

 

 

...they'll seem like the poster children for mental and emotional health, after watching this film!

Augusten Burroughs (Joseph Cross) grows up in a household with his mother, Deirdre (Annette Benning), who has severe mental stability issues. I am no psychiatrist so I am not even going to try to label her. He also has an alcoholic father, Norman (Alec Baldwin), who seems to have little to no interest in his son. In fact, because of his absence, I thought at the beginning of the film Augusten's parents were already divorced.

Deirdre is more dependant on her son than he is on her, he seems to care for her, and she seems to lean on him. She is an aspiring poet who lets her son skip school to do her hair and plan parties. The mother and father fight right in front of Augusten without a thought to him or his feelings. After a rather explosive fight they seek marital counseling and that's our introduction to the colorful Dr. Finch (Brian Cox). Through a series of events Augusten ends up living with the Finch's and we are wrapped up in another household filled with the emotionally and mentally unstable.

Despite his surroundings, you watch Augusten grow up to be relatively 'normal'. In his need for stability and normalcy, he finds the unlikely hero in the form of the long suffering housewife of Dr.Finch, Agnes (Jill Clayburgh). She really touched me in the way she cared for Augusten.

With all the craziness that occurs in this film, it should be a lot darker than it is. Surprisingly this movie makes humor out of situations that should horrify. I laughed more than I cried; I giggled more than I gasped. In real life, none of the situations portrayed would be amusing, I don't think I could have watched the film without the humor; it would have been too depressing. The acting in this movie, by everyone, was absolutely excellent, real and flawless. The movie reminded me a bit of The Royal Tenenbaums, the crazy, surreal family.

This was a good movie and I really enjoyed it, but it did make me think people should have to pass a series of tests in order to procreate and raise children, yikes!

I don't know how I could have missed this when it first came out. Augusten Burroughs is my favorite memoirist and I've read all his books and praise them all. So, when I heard that Running with Scissors was being made into a film I was thrilled. I think, though, when I saw that it was marketed as a comedy AND the reviews were just mediocre, I decided not to see it. Big mistake.

This is an amazing story. And, the cast was incredible-- the acting absolutely superb. I am just shocked at the poor reviews here. Not one thing was wrong with this movie. Really. Not one thing.

Jill Clayburgh and Annette Benning should have received an Academy for their part in this. Brian Cox was fantastic. And Joseph Cross, as Augusten was absolutely perfect. I can't praise Cross enough and I don't think too many people would have been able to pull this character off. Knowing Burroughs from his books, you see he has a caustic yet self-deprecating wit. But, to actually SEE him as the child he was-- maintaining his innocence while being exposed to horrendous circumstances he was exposed to actually made me appreciate Burroughs even more than I already do. Alec Baldwin, as always, played his brief part perfectly-- with empathy and depth.

Burroughs grew up in one of the most dysfunctional homes you will ever read about. After his parents divorced, he lived with his mentally ill and completely narcissistic mother until she handed Augusten over to her just-as-mentally-ill psychiatrist to raise him. The environment in this psychiatrist's home has to be seen (or read about) to be believed. Poor Augusten lived there for several years while his mother attempted to "find herself" and nurture herself at her son's expense. She even had the psychiatrist adopt her son.

Ironically, although it is difficult not to blame Burroughs' mother in all this- she's the epitome of narcissism-- the truth is, the MD is really the one to be reviled. Had his mother been treated by almost any other mental health professional rather than this one, it is likely everyone in Augusten's family would have been better off. Instead of treating his patients, the doctor did everything to mistreat them. I would like to believe that he was just insane, too, with no evil intent. But the truth is, I'm not so sure.

Somehow, despite his childhood, Augusten Burroughs became an adult to be admired. He went through incredibly difficult times, even after he left the psychiatrist's home. But, he persevered and his character was not permanently damaged. When reading his other books, it's clear that he analyzes all his behaviors and feelings and strives to be the best person he can possibly be.

This film is NOT a comedy. It has comedic elements, but it is a travesty that it was marketed as a comedy. One of the things that makes Burroughs' books so good is his dry (almost gallows) humor. But, his life isn't really a comedy. It's a tragedy that, thankfully, has a happy ending. Yes, I laughed at some parts, but it's laughter at the horror of what he lives through and the insanity of his environment. This movie is one of the most gut-wrenching films I've seen and should have been marketed entirely differently.

I really hope that the bad reviews here won't deter you from either purchasing or renting this film. I can't praise it highly enough.

This was a plesent surprise to pick up and watch the film adaptation of this book based on the memiors of Augusten Burrough, who at the age of 15 was signed away by his mother into the guardianship of her psychiatrist. This movie does an excellent job of portraying mental illness (bipolar and schizophrenia) and what actually occurs in the minds and daily lives of those who struggle with it. As for the Dr. Fitch, he is the exception to regular psychiatry, with loose boundaries and inappropriate relations with patients ended actually helping one of them. To those with mental illness, what appears to be real or "normal" to them can appear unbelievable to us. For Agusten, he grew up with no rules or boundaries, and it is amazing to see what will and insight can do. This is a great depiction of someone who overcame tremendous barriers to become something great. Thank him for sharing it with us. Rent this buy this read this, worth the time

Definitely one of the most dark psychological comedies to come along in years, RUNNING WITH SCISSORS has an excellent cast telling a truly warped story. What makes this even more interesting is that it's semi-autobiographical. Based on the life of Augusten Burroughs and his dysfunctional surroundings, young actor Joseph Cross does an excellent job in portraying what it must've been like to grow up an adolescent amidst the chaos of mental illness, yet come out the other end as a functioning adult.

Annette Bening stars as Deidre Burroughs, Augusten's unstable mother, and does so brilliantly. Her mood swings and mental breakdowns are frightening, tear-jerky, and funny all at the same time. When she sets up Augusten to be adopted by her psychiatrist, the audience feels both a sense of relief and a terrible foreboding. Brian Cox stars as the manipulative yet strangely lovable psychoanalyst, Dr. Finch. His family is a mish-mash of his own kids and those he's adopted and taken advantage of financially. His wife Agnes, played superbly by Jill Clayburgh, is one of the shining lights in the film, giving us a much needed resting post to lean against while trying to grasp the amazing flaws of everyone else (she has her shortcomings, too, but they aren't as broad).

The story pulls no punches either, showing how Augusten's early development lead him toward homosexuality, Dr. Finch discussing his masturbatorium (figure it out), Deidre exploring lesbianism after a nasty divorce from her husband (played very well by Alec Baldwin), and the discovery of bowel movements as prognosticators.

The only downside to the entire movie was that it feels unbalanced, sometimes accelerating through scenes in mere seconds before grabbing traction again and moving fluidly forward.

One could also see the screenplay being a complete disaster if it weren't for the all-star, powerhouse cast. Brian Cox, Annette Bening, Alec Baldwin, Gwyneth Paltrow, Evan Rachel Woods, Joseph Fiennes, and many, many others lend their ample talents to the film. But the ending certainly makes up for any lagging script qualities. To learn that Augusten survived this raucous period in his life and came out the other end still a productive member of society is something to marvel at. And you probably will...

A famous writer once said that all families are unhappy but no two families share the same unhappiness. Based on the memoir of Augusten Burroughs, Running With Scissors is the story of a dysfunctional family, but a dysfunctional family you've never seen before.

Young Augusten (Jack Kaeden) is a chronic school skipper who stays at home to feed his mother Deidre's (Annette Benning) ego. Augusten lovingly puts curlers in Deidre's hair and attentively listens to her poetry readings at the living room microphone. Augusten optimistically assures Deidre that the poem "really does sound like something you'd read in the New Yorker".

Deidre and Norm Burroughs (Alec Baldwin) are unhappy. They seek the help of a quack-California-psychiatrist who hooks Deidre on the pill du jour of the 70's-valium. Norm moves out. Deidre claims she is happy with the divorce because now she can "concentrate on her writing" but spends a good deal of time in bed-on pills and with her psychiatrist. Augusten is left at the psychiatrists home-a cupcake pink monstrosity that beats Grey Gardens on the squalor meter-while Deidre and Doctor Finch (Brian Cox) go to a motel. Mom never really returns to Augusten's life.

Seeking love, Augusten is comforted by the amorous attention of a pediophile, Neil Bookman (Joseph Finnes) who is also a patient of Finch. Augusten sometimes returns home for weekend visits to witness the decline of his mother. Augusten is legally adopted by Finch so that Finch can get his hands on the severely addicted Deidre's money.

This movie deals with themes that haven't been explored in popular culture, I suspect because the movie paying audience doesn't like to see their flaws so aptly displayed on screen-the selfishness of the baby-boomer generation, psychiatrist abuse, alcoholism, pill addiction (prozac anyone?), flattery and ego, pedophiles. Burroughs does an outstanding job of mixing some very dark stuff with humor. Still you'll cringe when Finch cripples his patients by matchmaking them to other dysfunctional patients and writes them another prescription. In one scene Finch encourages young Augusten to stage a suicide so that he won't have to attend school and presumably not be held accountable for Augusten's chronic ditching. Not only does Finch encourage a relationship between Augusten and Neil Bookman, but he sets his 13 year old daughter up with a violent 41 year old man who breaks her collar bone. Finch extorts $75,000 from the man telling him it is for his daughter's college fund, spending the money as soon as it is in his hands. Your skin will crawl when Finch's patients are reduced to communicating with the limited language and trite emotion of his psychobabble. And you'll shake your head watching Deidre run through one 70's fad after another trying to "find herself" and "tap into her unconscious creative mind". But you'll love the way these patterns of abuse unfold, like when Deidre begins an interpretive dance while hallucinating it is snowing in her bedroom before a candle wax laden mantle cum buddah shrine. All elements of film work together perfectly in this movie-settings, props, acting. It's wonderful. After seeing this movie you will have no doubt that the self-absorbed, do as you please, divorce is better for kids, free to be you and me mantra was the B.S. of the 1960's and 1970's.

Benning shines in her role of tortured and oppressed-only in her own mind-Deidre. I watched this movie twice in a row just to see Benning's facial expressions. Alec Baldwin is entirely sympathetic and wonderful as the Dad trying to do the right thing, even when he hangs up on his son. Jill Clayburgh (Finch's wife) is complicated, abused, and astute all at once. Natalie (Evelyn Rachel Wood) is great as one of Finch's daughters and her part is so well written that even in her very last scene we are still learning that her bravado and indifference is a cover-up for some very deep pain and that her father has some sharp hooks in her. Evelyn Rachel Wood did a great job in Thirteen as well and I can't wait to see more of her. Gwenneth is good, but she delivers a little of the same performance that she did in The Royal Tenenbaums (The Criterion Collection). And you even end up loving Bookman the pediophile because Finnes is so stellar. Cross is so believable as a young Augusten-you can see both his pain and maturity and believe he could raise himself as he is left to do. Cox is great as the creepy Finch. You walk away from this movie thinking that no one else could have played these roles which in my mind means that these actors all deserve accolades.

I liked two movies this year-Little Miss Sunshine and Running With Scissors. If Running doesn't receive several academy awards I will have lost all respect for the Academy. I think the movie might fail at the awards because as I explained, the baby-boomer Academy Award voting audience is going experience pain seeing their flaws accurately displayed on screen. Some reviewers have said that this movie is like The Royal Tennebaums. Except for Gwenneth, I found the comparison lacking. Burroughs delivers a mature and poignant humor which was missing in Tennebaums. I think you'll really
love this movie.

In no way, shape, or form does it say in the trailer that this movie is going to be exactly like the book. It says that it is clearly based on the book. Another point, where, oh where does it say that this movie is a freakin' non-stop rollercoaster ride "Comedy", guess what...it doesn't. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie and it was exactly what I thought it would be, GENERALLY close to the book. The characters are excellent, the narration throughout the scenes call back to the days of the show "Wonder Years", which is still sadly not on DVD. The point is, I knew what I was getting into before I saw this movie. I, unlike most people who seem to have ripped this movie a new one without thinking, gave it a fair chance and didn't expect it to follow the book word for word. I also didn't already have a picture in my mind about what the characters from the book would looked like if they were transitioned to screen. Believe me, I can guarantee to anyone that if you had the above written expectations before seeing the movie, then there's no wonder it sucked for you.

Having read "Running with Scissors" a year or two ago, I was merely curious to see the film version. I wasn't even that wild about the book, and as the movie was not well-received by critics, I didn't expect much.

Perhaps the low expectations helped to enhance my delight, but "Running with Scissors" is actually exceptionally good. Everyone in the cast provides a superlative acting job, as does director Ryan Murphy, and despite what some others have said, the movie IS cohesive. Yes indeed, most of the characters are exceedingly dysfunctional. That's what it's about; duh. Many critics pan Joseph Cross as being too "flat" or unresponsive to his surroundings as the central character of Augusten, but hey - that's precisely the point. He was a child, powerless to control his environment. I will concede however, that Cross' portrayal of Burroughs possibly places him (Burroughs) in a more favorable light than he deserves. Those of us who have read his books are aware of his cynical and mean-spirited side, which he rationalizes by referring back to his rotten childhood; a forever circular reasoning.

Amongst these tragic characters are laugh-aloud moments of dry wit. EX: Bookman's (Joseph Fiennes) guest appearance at Deirdre's (Annette Benning) poetry reading is hilarious, but definitely not in a silly sitcom way. If you are the sort of viewer who needs lots of props and special effects and laugh tracks, please look elsewhere. But honestly, I think if one is willing to apply oneself and invest two hours of time, the payoff is well worth it. No spoilers here, but the final scene is truly marvelous. You will want to view it more than once, just to savor it.

5 STARS! Did I "enjoy" this film?...NO.Did I love it?...yes!

As crazy as this film may seem to some people,this was my life!!! It made total crazy,bizarre,funny,happy,sad sense.Dierdre Burroughs was my mother.I was Augusten.I remember all of the "therapy sessions", the "new" prescription drugs that the "analyst" prescribed.I remember the manic behaviors of my creative genius mother...and I remember the little boy caught in the crossfire, being raised by other "nutty" people;..... and I remember when I said "ENOUGH!" and left all of it, went to therapy,saw it for what it was.... and survived it all just like Augusten did!

The 1970's was the "self help"- Gesthalt/Jung -horoscope- analyst age.The 1960's set it up, and the 1970's ran with it....big time...and those of us who had parents that fell under it's spell either went with it or fell with them.Scream therapy was all the rage.Our medicine chests looked like mini-pharmacies.Our parents took the drugs and the "analysts" put we children on some drugs,too. All of my childhood friends were on the "lavender pill" (which to this day I still don.t know what it was called...it just kept me calm...of course I don't really remember being upset! hmm) Our parents were trying to "find themselves" and they had us kids!!!!! What a f***ing trip!!!!

I said in the beginning...did I "enjoy" the film and answered NO. Well, it is never pleasant watching your own uncomfortable life on the screen where others laugh at it or say "that was ridiculous". All I can say is "You would have had to have been there".Will I view this film over and over again? ABSOLUTELY! Why? There are two phenomenal actings jobs in this film that create such hatred and sympathy in me; the characters portrayed by an amazing Annette Bening and even better still Jill Clayburgh.These two veteran actresses tackled VERY difficult and unlikeable and conflicted women.I know their characters, and Bening and Clayburgh have them complete through and through.Each are victims of a control beyond them.Both have made horrendous decisions (possibly selfish) with no thought as to the results that would have occurred on the children.Augusten (Joseph Cross) was caught in the crossfire.He was abandoned, and unfortunately was given no boundaries to go by. He became an adult way before he should have, yet he was still a child and continued to grow as one making both profitable and unprofitable decisions in life (see the DVD extras).

(It is significant to note here that WOMEN were prescribed rather harsh anti-psychotic drugs from the '50's to the '70's that flipped them out completely.See ASHLEY JUDD'S performance in YA-YA SISTERHOOD and JULIANNE MOORE in THE HOURS. Drugs such as HALDOL,MILLTOWN were staples that ruined women's brains and subsequently their children's lives!)

I am sure that reviews of this film will vary greatly due to differing experiences; but for me it was a complete uncomfortable yet profitable learning experience to realize that I am not alone and just how wonderfully far I have come.I am a very well adjusted individual and am pleased to say that my childhood of "running with scissors" allowed me to make hard but excellent choices for career,friends and life partner that have all been healthy and lasting.Some people do survive and flourish after scissors.

Did I "love" this film? Not in the way that I "loved" films that thoroughly entertained me and I walked away singing.Not "Scissors"...that didn't happen.I did leave, though, content in my place in life and I learned.This was a highly personal film for me.I write only so that someone might understand.You do not have to "like" this film at all...I could understand that.

I would recommend Ang Lee's THE ICE STORM as a great companion movie.Anyone who specifically had their lives influenced by the "analysis decade" of the 1970's can benefit greatly by viewing these two films.I would also review THE DIVINE SECRETS OF THE YA-YA SISTERHOOD and Terence Davies NEON BIBLE which also contain similar themes.

Before watching the movie, I had read the book. Consequently, I was looking forward to seeing the story come to life on the silver screen. Unfortunately, the story didn't survive its on-screen adaptation. Although many of the events were similar, the film lost much of the hideous reality of Augustine Burrough's childhood. Reading the book, I could see how something like this could happen in real life. However, the movie Hollywood-ized the original story to make it palatable to the common movie-goer, who seems to like things tidy. The Finch home in the story bristled with life. Its messiness seemed to leap from the page. The movie killed that life. I felt distanced from the mess. I didn't live with it like I did when reading the book. I wanted to see the remains of last month's meal lying on top of the television. I wanted to see the roaches crawling across the unwashed dishes in the kitchen. Instead, we got long shots of the mess that didn't allow us to really look at it.

I was also displeased with the changes to the story itself. Instead of many children, Dr. Finch had only two. In real life, a man like that would have more than two children. It just makes sense because of his philosophy on life being less than conservative. In addition, the extra children made the family seem larger and crazier. As I was reading, I could hardly keep everyone straight. Also, Agnes in the movie was transformed into a foil for Augustine's mother. Although Agnes wasn't a perfect mother in the movie, she was better than Deidre. She gave Augustine a small piece of sanity in an otherwise chaotic world. In the book Augustine didn't seem to have that. Agnes certainly wasn't put together enough to be a mother to him. Instead, she seemed to me to be an embodiment of the house-- broken and in need of repair. But Hollywood seems to need things neat and tidy. It needs to give Augustine a mother when he needs one.

However, real life isn't like that. In real life it can happen that a child like Augustine could be left adrift without anyone at all. The Augustine of the memoir didn't seem to have anyone to turn to, unless you count Neil Bookman, the disturbed older man who practically raped Augustine during their first sexual encounter, or Natalie, who was just as lost as Augustine was, if not more so.

As for Natalie herself... in the book, she was very self-conscious about her weight. She and Augustine would eat at McDonald's, and she'd call herself a cow. In the movie, she was thin and, despite the heavy makeup, almost model-worthy. Again, the movie took a real life person and shaped her into a Hollywood version of herself. And Hope was even more of a stereotype than a real person. She was just crazy and frigid. We didn't see the side of her that was a friend to Augustine in the early years.

In short, the movie sucked the life out of the book and created a bland, un-entertaining cliche of a film that wasn't even interesting in its own right, let alone when being compared to the book. My two friends who'd never read the book didn't like it any more than I did.

I just want to yell at Hollywood to stop imitating itself. It's like the execs have found a formula, and they are afraid to deviate from it, even for something more interesting. If they'd have stuck to the book a little more closely and been more true to life, people would have wanted to watch because of how real it was-- and how surreal. What kept me reading was that I knew that Augustine's kind of life was being lived right now. I'm an English teacher, and I often wonder what kinds of homes my students go to. The book opened that world up to me, and although I didn't like what I saw, I could understand it better having read about it. Sadly, the movie took all that poignancy away and left a hollow shell. The only redeeming part of the movie was its soundtrack, which somehow made the film more tolerable. Overall, I would not recommend this movie to anyone. I would, however, recommend the book. It was an interesting read about an interesting life, and the movie didn't even come close to doing it justice.

This has to be one the the biggest(if not THE biggest) examples of a film pretending it's something it isn't in the trailer(call itself a comedy) just to sucker the masses(including me) unfamiliar with the book of the same title(or its author) into paying money for 2 hours of seemingly endless doom, gloom & misery. Contrast the trailer to the film: in the trailer, the scene excerpts are visibly brightened in comparison to the film(niiice), and chosen strategically to make one think this is comedy....what a crock.

Anyone that would actually watch this movie, in it's entirely(like I did unfortunately) & come out of it thinking of it as dark comedy excellence must be on some serious mind-numbing substance(or substances), much like I presume is the case of the blissfully ignorant theatergoers of this wretched film another 1-star reviewer brought up.

Don't waste your money or your time. I was able to see this lump of deep-fried bat manure on DirecTV for the "reasonable" price of $4.50, and it was $4.50 too much. In fact, I don't think I'd feel like sitting through this again if I was paid the original price of this dvd.