Running With Scissors DVD Review

Perhaps the fact that so many memoirs have been found false lately or that I loath The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things caused me to dislike Running With Scissors more than I should have. The fact of the matter is that I am sick and tired of films based on memoirs from horrible childhoods, and while Running With Scissors has some nice moments, as a whole it gets stuck in a number of clichés, based on a true story or not. In the end the quirkiness of the film is mostly brought out in a series of bits and vignettes within a loosely structured film that tends to harp on the same points throughout the entire two hours.

Based on the personal memoirs of Augusten Burroughs, Running With Scissors is a comedic melodrama about a young boy (Joseph Cross) who is abandoned by his father (Alec Baldwin) and left with his bipolar mother with dillusions of grandeur, thinking she will some day be a famous writer. After a few psychotic episodes Augusten is sent to live with his mother’s therapist, who is extremely eccentric and keeps his house the same way. Augusten moves from one unrestricted environment to one which is run the same way with more people and insanity running around. Also living in the house is Dr. Finch’s other children, some of which are adopted patients. Gwyneth Paltrow is the slightly insane older daughter who talks to the family cat, Freud. Evan Rachel Wood is the younger daughter, plastered with eye make-up each scene and able to engage in loud conversations filled with obscenities, but otherwise far more normal than the rest. Jill Clayburgh plays the unfortunate wife of Dr. Finch (Brian Cox), and Joseph Fiennes is the gay adopted son who begins a relationship with Augusten.

Although I didn’t care for the film as a whole, there were certainly aspects that had me engaged. Some of the acting in the film is wildly entertaining. The filmmakers seemed to be banking on Annette Benning’s performance so much that there are many unnecessary and indulgent scenes with her character that don’t even make sense considering her son is the narrator. Especially frustrating are the sequences where we enter her head and see her dillusions, which may have been great for her character despite the fact that it makes no sense to the story. Joseph Fiennes and Brian Cox are given a bit of the same treatment. One performance that stood out for me was by an actress I have been following for years. Evan Rachel Wood was able to tap into convincing emotions at a young age on Once and Again, a show which dwelled on emotions, and she has only improved with time. Considering the roles she has played before, often having a bit of a wild side (Thirteen, Pretty Persuasion, Down in the Valley), Wood is a perfect choice for the role of Natalie.

The special features reflect where the obvious attention was given in the film, as is mirrored by the features. The casting featurette spends a great deal of time talking about the big three names in the film, and largely rushes the other actors. There is an interview with the real Augusten Burroughs who is flamboyantly excited to talk about his depressing childhood. The last feature is “Creating the Cuckoo’s Nest”, a featurette about the set design of the ravished Finch home.