moonspinner55 School-loathing gay teenager in 1978 is adopted into the bizarre family of his mother's psychiatrist after her marriage fails and she embraces lesbianism; the doctor--who has a sad-sack wife and two troubled teenage daughters--is a pill-pushing purveyor of the Primal Scream method...and is also in danger of losing his mansion to the IRS. Absurdist tragicomedy from Augusten Burroughs' book, "Running with Scissors: A Memoir", adapted by the director, Ryan Murphy, and smothered in pop music, pop psychology and pop witticisms. The whole damn thing is made into bubblegum. Performances by the talented cast carry many of the scenes, and yet the characters come from the same jaded, cynical mold (so much so, they wear themselves out and wear the audience down in equal measure). Murphy is the kind of filmmaker who loves a good hug between eccentric or eclectic people, but his cinematic style and handling of the narrative are shallow (to be charitable). The humor isn't derived from the characters, just their idiosyncrasies. It's all behavior. What Murphy finds funny is a theatrical sort of deadpan--incredulous expressionism--which makes the movie and nearly everyone in it seem smug (with the exception of Jill Clayburgh as the doctor's wife, who has two or three really terrific moments). It's meant to be precocious; it is instead merely precious. ** from ****

Theodore Keating I don't really like the idea of comparing the book to the movie, but in this case I find it inevitable. I read the book and loved it, but the movie just doesn't have the same skill.... For one thing, the movie really downplayed the oddity of the everything that went on, which was really what made the memoir so detail-oriented and real, I think. But the people who made the movie just didn't have the same skill with *their* craft.... For one thing, it was a little off to cast an actor like Alec Baldwin to be the father, who had such a minimal role, really. It also seemed at times like too much emphasis was placed on the mother-- in film I suppose it's easier to place emphasis on an adult, rather than a child (a child actor), but the whole thing was supposed to be about Augusten....I really think they should have considered using voiceovers/narration by Augusten to give some depth to his point-of-view, giving something to his own narrations and insights like in the book, rather than just showing him on the edge of the scene.... Without that deep feel for the characters idiosyncrasies and the individuality of the memoirist, it's just.... boring. They just show flatly this one doing this and that one doing that, but there's just no real appreciation for how crazy it all was. .... It sounds stupid and obvious to say that it should have been more like the book, but it really should have been.(7/10)

James (iReviewFilms) Strange one this. Augusten Burroughs (Joseph Cross) was born into a dysfunctional family. With his father (Alec Baldwin) an alcoholic and a mentally unstable mother (Annette Bening) who lives in a delusional world where her belief that she has what it takes to become the world's greatest poet is only surpassed by her attempts to achieve her goal, it's unsurprising to find that his life has been impacted greatly from a young age.As he grows into a teenager, his mother signs him away into the custody of her shrink, Dr. Finch (Brian Cox) an equally eccentric man who it seems treats his children as more of an experiment than an actual family. From here it seems that instead of normality, Augusten has leapt from the proverbial frying pan into a immensely large fire. He befriends the two daughters, Hope (Gwyneth Paltrow) and in particular Natalie (Evan Rachel Wood) as well as Neil (Joseph Fiennes) the most damaged of all of Finch's children.If I'm honest, I'm not sure exactly what to make of this film. Is seems intentionally set out to confuse the viewer but then deals with some serious topics amongst all of this. Each individual character is damaged and has serious character flaws that need to be addressed, some more than others. Although I have never read the book of the same name, I hear it sticks to the content closely and is all based on the real life events (I'm assuming more in part than in full) of Augustun Despite this, because of it's tendency to be so random and with so many things going on it is hard to ground yourself and actually believe that these are real people and not just extreme characters. This made it hard to relate with the characters.Black comedies of this nature can be rather subjective to the viewer and this will be one of those films that will split the general populous. It's even fighting a battle in my own mind as write this trying to work it out. I was a fan of the comedy that throws you from one topic to another while the characters remain completely serious, talk about deeply emotional feelings and yet still manage to draw laughs at the same time. For that alone the script and direction have to be commended.The performances of Benning and Cross also deserve a mention. Benning truly seems engulfed in her own world as she struggles to cope with herself let alone the environment around her and the casting of Benning worked in my eyes as he struggles to better understand himself.I suppose that if I had to summarise the plot I would call it as a coming of age story albeit a rather warped one. I think the movies tagline says it best- he's looking forward to a memory he won't have to suppress and although the film leaves you asking more questions than it answers, something I can't quite put my finger on made me enjoy it. Not so much that I want to watch it again next week but give it a year or so and I'm sure I will want another dose of Augusten Burroughs and his alternative life.For further reviews feel free to check out: http://www.fanaticalaboutfilms.com

indienforeignfilmgirl I loved this movie! It is incredibly funny in that sarcastic sort of way, yet also has a lot of heart in it. This movie also stays quite true to the book, which is even funnier. The acting is great, especially Anette Benning's portrayal of a drugged out psychotic. It is hard to imagine what Augusten Burroughs went through considering the neglect he experienced as a young teenager. His mother gives custody of him to her psychiatrist who has her convinced that her ex-husband is dangerous and wants to kill her. Augusten has no choice but to live with Dr. Finch and his family, who are an eccentric bunch. He makes friends with the younger daughter and dates a man in his late 30's, as Dr. Finch's psychological beliefs dictate that humans are considered adults at age 13 and can make their own choices. Eventually, he comes to the realization that he wanted a normal life, rules, and a normal mother, not one that craves "toothpaste sandwiches" when she's going crazy.