Featured Audience Ratings

• ♥˩ƳИИ &

  
  Cast: Annette Bening, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jill Clayburgh, Brian Cox, Joseph Fiennes, Evan Rachel Wood, Alec Baldwin, Vanessa Redgrave, Kristin Chenoweth, Colleen Camp, Patrick Wilson Director: Ryan Murphy Summary: When Deirdre Burroughs (Annette Bening) impulsively decides that… More
  Cast: Annette Bening, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jill Clayburgh, Brian Cox, Joseph Fiennes, Evan Rachel Wood, Alec Baldwin, Vanessa Redgrave, Kristin Chenoweth, Colleen Camp, Patrick Wilson Director: Ryan Murphy Summary: When Deirdre Burroughs (Annette Bening) impulsively decides that her adolescent son Augusten (Joseph Cross) should be raised by her unconventional psychiatrist (Brian Cox), her choice to give him away changes the course of his life forever. My Thoughts: "Haven't read the book (although I want to) so I am not sure if its the same in writing as it is on screen. It's such a crazy movie.. A good kind of crazy. I had wanted to see this movie for quite some time now, and I am glad I finally got the chance to. It was such a great movie. All the characters are all insane but sane at the same time. The Dr. was my favorite. The lines he gave had me laughing. If you haven't seen it I recommend you do."

• EightThirty .

  
  30/07/2010 (TELEVISION) This puts the "Drama" in "Dramatic" and makes it seem poetic. A very intense story with some major issues that weigh a ton, in madness. It started off seemingly normal and interesting but as the story unfolds it takes a very shocking turn… More
  30/07/2010 (TELEVISION) This puts the "Drama" in "Dramatic" and makes it seem poetic. A very intense story with some major issues that weigh a ton, in madness. It started off seemingly normal and interesting but as the story unfolds it takes a very shocking turn with crazy characters and a fiery story that burns with insanity, but still managing to maintain my interest. Not my kind of flick but it's a nice change from my usual taste. A very hardcore drama indeed but a good check for those who are into "True Stories".

• KJ P

  
  Very Strange! Joseph Cross has done better work in Jack Frost! What the hell was this?

• Jake .

  
  Running With Scissors walk a tightrope between being a complete autrocity and being a work of mesmorizing genuis. I read the book a couple weeks ago and liked it a lot. The book managed to relate the bizare events without giving a feeling of "Woe is Me". Perhaps more… More
  Running With Scissors walk a tightrope between being a complete autrocity and being a work of mesmorizing genuis. I read the book a couple weeks ago and liked it a lot. The book managed to relate the bizare events without giving a feeling of "Woe is Me". Perhaps more importantly, the book was also believable - whereas in the film everything appears fairly ludicrious. The movie certainly has its moments. In fact, several scenes were absolutely masterfull. Most of the acting was pretty decent-though Even Rachel Wood is among my favorites. I was also overjoyed to see Kristen Chenoweth. The sound track was also pretty damn amazing! Idk, I find myself fairly torn on this one. It did not completely win me over at all, but its just too close to being really good to say its bad =\

• Anthony L

  
  Good film with fantastic performances by Bening and Cox. The fact that it?s a true story makes it even more entertaining but I must say I'm a little cross with myself for not reading the book first, have been meaning to for so long and probably won?t now for while. Recommended.

• Robert C

  
  I'm pretty sure that "heart warming" is NOT the right word...but somehow that is what pops into my head...perhpas "touching" is more appropriate? In any case this film was not the quirky "dark comedy" that the trailer lead me to believe it would… More
  I'm pretty sure that "heart warming" is NOT the right word...but somehow that is what pops into my head...perhpas "touching" is more appropriate? In any case this film was not the quirky "dark comedy" that the trailer lead me to believe it would be. Instead what I got was a very moving (and yes "quirky") period (1970's) piece about the life of one boy and his COMPLETELY disfunctional family (both biological & "adopted"). The cast is amazing and the writting (for the most part) is as clever as it is depressing. All in all an enjoyable (but heartbreaking)story.

• Alice S

  
  Pretty crazy. Excellent performances from Bening, Clayburgh, and Cross.

• Red L

  
  A movie about crazy people. I don't like the film very much as I don't feel we learn much by watching it. It seems to be one confusing snapshot after another. The acting is fine. It is a movie that I need to see a second time to totally understand it. The film… More
  A movie about crazy people. I don't like the film very much as I don't feel we learn much by watching it. It seems to be one confusing snapshot after another. The acting is fine. It is a movie that I need to see a second time to totally understand it. The film doesn't inspire me to read the book.

• Jose Z

  
  This movie is weird but good. A complex film about the childhood of novelist Augusten Burroughs who had a bipolar-poet mother and a alcoholic father, they decide to divorce , Augusten finishes living with his mother's shrink an his screwed family. The story seems interesting,… More
  This movie is weird but good. A complex film about the childhood of novelist Augusten Burroughs who had a bipolar-poet mother and a alcoholic father, they decide to divorce , Augusten finishes living with his mother's shrink an his screwed family. The story seems interesting, with a nice dark humor and tear dropping drama. The music is excellent, it reflects the 70's perfectly. The cast is excellent, Annette Bening's performance was flawless, Joseph Fiennes has a very convincing role as Neil Bookman, Brian Cox as Dr. Finch great as always, Evan Rachel Wood and Gwyneth Paltrow were very good also and Joseph Cross as Augusten Burroughs delivers a awesome and convincing acting job. This is a fully recommendable movie one of 2006 best.

• Curtis L

  
  I wanted to like it. Brian Cox looked so promising, but it ended up being too centered on gay sex and whinny people. Gwyneth Paltrow did a great job though.

• Michael G

  
  Not quite the eccentricity fest the trailer promised, but still a pretty fun black comedy. Running With Scissors started off pretty fun but shifted gears into complete and total dismal territory about half a dozen times throughout the duration. Really good soundtrack though. I was… More
  Not quite the eccentricity fest the trailer promised, but still a pretty fun black comedy. Running With Scissors started off pretty fun but shifted gears into complete and total dismal territory about half a dozen times throughout the duration. Really good soundtrack though. I was thinking if you sent The Royal Tenenbaums to the dark side of the moon that this is what you'd end up with. Bening was great and the rest of the cast was fun for the most part. Not required viewing but catch it if you can. In the end it made me wish that I was watching a film version of Dave Eggers' "Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius."

• Dean M

  
  Very strange true story based on the book by Augusten Burroughs about his odd childhood with his own family and weird adopted family. I like Evan Rachel Wood's performance as she looks so sexy better than Gwyneth Paltrow.

• James A

  
  This movie is way to full of itself.

• Luke B

  
  A hilarious and very off-beat film. Haven't read the book, but as a slightly dark and bizarre comedy this works. All the performances are fantastic and all the characters are likeable in their own ways. Closer to the end it sort of has less comedy and too much crying, which… More
  A hilarious and very off-beat film. Haven't read the book, but as a slightly dark and bizarre comedy this works. All the performances are fantastic and all the characters are likeable in their own ways. Closer to the end it sort of has less comedy and too much crying, which doesn't really interlace well. Overall though thiis is a winning film and passes the time wonderfully.

• Jeremy S

  
  When I saw the trailer for Running With Scissors and read that only people with a deranged sense of humor would enjoy, I couldn't wait to see it. Yet as Annette Bening would say it 'implodes into nothingness'. Based on the best selling memoirs of Augusten Burroughs this… More
  When I saw the trailer for Running With Scissors and read that only people with a deranged sense of humor would enjoy, I couldn't wait to see it. Yet as Annette Bening would say it 'implodes into nothingness'. Based on the best selling memoirs of Augusten Burroughs this film is both fanatically wierd, hillarious, annoying and ultimately dissapointing. Besides the fact that I cannot think of one person who wouldn't be offened by this film the film is so frivilous and shallow that no one would take it seriously. And yet by the second half of the story that is percisely what the film is begging you to do, take it seriously, which is impossible. To do that you would have to accept that the nonsense of the film is actually more than black comedy. The one message that I could find in the mist of the film was that in the end Augusten needed rules and boundaries something his childhood did not give him. I was impressed with the performances of the mother and son and found that I could relate myself to Augusten. Running With Scissors hungrily devours pointless superfical black comedy but chokes when it wants to be more.

• Michael S

  
  This movie wants nothing more than to be The Royal Tenenbaums; but fails miserably.

• Morgan S

  
  ok wierd ....

• Nate Z

  
  [CENTER][img]http://img416.imageshack.us/img416/6347/photo01zn6.jpg[/img][/CENTER] [COLOR=DarkRed][FONT=Arial]Ever since author James Frey imploded into a million little pieces, the memoir has come under intense scrutiny. At issue is the validity of the written word, whether these… More
  [CENTER][img]http://img416.imageshack.us/img416/6347/photo01zn6.jpg[/img][/CENTER] [COLOR=DarkRed][FONT=Arial]Ever since author James Frey imploded into a million little pieces, the memoir has come under intense scrutiny. At issue is the validity of the written word, whether these people are being honest as they recount their tortured yet inevitably redemptive lives. What is the difference between nonfiction and memoir, and does it implicitly imply personal bias? [U]Running with Scissors[/U] is the 2002 best-selling book detailing the bizarre childhood of Augusten Burroughs. It?s a book with lots of out-there claims but they?re all held in check by Burroughs? tart observation and witty writing. When translated to the silver screen, [I]Running with Scissors[/I] loses credibility without the author?s voice. I doubt many people going in cold will even believe what they're seeing. In the 1970s, Augusten (Joseph Cross) is a gay teen growing up in the care of his alcoholic father (Alec Baldwin) and his deeply delusional, bipolar, wannabe poet mother (Annette Benning). When their marriage hits one of its many slags they seek out a therapist, Dr. Finch (Bryan Cox). He has a room he dubs his ?masturbatorium,? a resemblance to Santa Claus, and a family just as whacked as he is. His oldest daughter, Hope (Gwyneth Paltrow), helps him in his practice and thinks that pets talk to her, even from beyond the grave. Natalie (Evan Rachel Wood) is the rebellious daughter who likes to play doctor via electric shock therapy. Agnes Finch (Jill Clayburgh) is the matriarch of this cracked family that also enjoys eating some dog kibble here and there. When Augusten?s mother signs over adoption papers he becomes the reluctant newest member of this dysfunctional family. The trouble with translating a book is that you lose the author?s voice and commentary. [I]Running with Scissors[/I] maintains the horrifying living conditions for Augusten and the stable of oddballs, but lost is the author?s snappy humor that carried him through this tumultuous time. It?s definitely weird but it?s far from engaging. Without the wit and dark humor from Augusten?s voice we?re left with a series of loosely bandaged scenes about crazy characters and crazy anecdotes, little of which contains further importance. This is a fan of the book talking here, and I?m afraid that the film adaptation has heightened some of the weaknesses of the book, namely the loose storyline. When pieced together as a film, [I]Running with Scissors[/I] can become slightly tiresome and overly reliant on background details. The film treats its wild, kitschy production design and 70s nostalgia as a character on par with anyone. It makes for great production design, true to the spirit of the book, but also serves as a narrative distraction. Too much attention seems to be put on getting things to look right than getting the screenplay to feel right. Without the author?s voice the results lose credibility. It?s funny to see a Christmas tree up year round, and it?s funny when Dr. Finch is convinced God is communicating to him through his bowel movements, but it all just comes off as another joke like the art direction and nothing more. When fully added together without any sense of pathos, it all seems like a joke. The subplot involving Augusten?s sexual relationship with a much older schizophrenic patient (Joseph Fiennes) seems mishandled without much insight. [I]Running with Scissors[/I] presents all examples of dangerous, sometimes illegal, behavior and doesn?t bat an eye, nor does it pass judgment. While this may irk some and seem irresponsible it?s just another case of little mattering. [I]Running with Scissors[/I], as an adaptation, presents little of consequence. Director Ryan Murphy also adapted the screenplay and knows a thing or two about dysfunction and trashiness, having created the risky TV show [I]Nip/Tuck[/I]. His adaptation has a blunted feel, but it also seems too broad. Then again, maybe only fans of the book would notice. He has a good feel for his actors and can stage some nice shot selections, but man, someone needs to slap his hand away from the AM radio. [I]Running with Scissors[/I] is crammed with so many popular 70s tunes that it becomes a crutch, with Murphy hitting the soundtrack button whenever he needs some kind of character catharsis. It doesn?t work and comes across as indulgent and simplistic. There are so many zippy classic pop songs you may think Elton John is owed a writing credit. The acting is one of the elements that help give life to this adaptation. Benning has been generating Oscar buzz for her deeply self-involved portrayal of a mom held hostage by her illness. Benning digs deep and displays a comic range of absurd behavior and wild paranoia. She?s all over the place and you can?t help but loathe her, that is, if you ever take her seriously. But then, once overly medicated, she gives an entirely secondary performance as an emotionless zombie, and we feel a sliver of sympathy, a true surprise. It?s a good, meaty role, however, I actually think Clayburgh gives the more Oscar-worthy performance. In a lot of ways she?s resigned to her fate and yet manages to be the gauzy heart of the picture. She tells me more with her wrinkles than Benning does in her gesticulating outbursts. The rest of the cast work admirably. Cross is our focal point of the story and does a fine job of, essentially, gawking and looking perplexed. He?s like a blank, gangly canvas, and I wonder what else Cross is capable of than a performance built around indignant reactions. Wood is developing into a lovely adult actress and has some of the best foul-mouthed lines. It?s just nice to see Paltrow in a movie again. Baldwin has transformed from leading man into incredibly versatile supporting actor that excels as comedic lunkheads. Cox remains one of my favorite character actors of all time. There?s nothing this man cannot do. The actors all do a good job of filling out their zany characters while leaving their own imprint. The issue with [I]Running with Scissors[/I] is that when you strip away the author?s caustic voice, then the movie strains credibility, even with the knowledge that it?s based on a personal memoir. The movie gets all the wackiness but misses out on some of the finer points and humor that helped save Augusten from his unorthodox housing. The story feels dulled and stretched too broad, and yet it still manages to be intermittently entertaining despite these flaws. The actors range from good to great and the art direction is fantastic, even if Murphy expects it to do more work than his screenplay. [I]Running with Scissors[/I] isn?t as nervy, engaging, or provocative as its source material. Then again little else is. Consider the film [I]Running with Safety Scissors[/I]. Nate?s Grade: B-[/FONT][/COLOR]

• Walter M

  
  [font=Century Gothic]In "Running with Scissors," Augusten Burroughs(Jack Kaeding), as a child, has a very loving relationship with his mother, Deirdre(Annette Bening), who makes up silly excuses to keep him home from school. As a teenager(Joseph Cross), the shine has gone… More
  [font=Century Gothic]In "Running with Scissors," Augusten Burroughs(Jack Kaeding), as a child, has a very loving relationship with his mother, Deirdre(Annette Bening), who makes up silly excuses to keep him home from school. As a teenager(Joseph Cross), the shine has gone off their relationship as the marriage between Deirdre and his father(Alec Baldwin) is on the rocks. So much so, that she seeks help from an unconvential psychiatrist, Dr. Finch(Brian Cox). The marriage is still doomed however and she drops Augusten off at Dr. Finch's dilapidated mansion while she clears her head.[/font] [font=Century Gothic][/font] [font=Century Gothic]"Running with Scissors" is an awkward and episodic mess of a coming-of-age movie that is based on Burroughs' memoir. The movie is too absurd to be taken seriously as an examination of mental illness and the psychiatric profession but cannot come to the conclusion that it is a comedy either.(It is the kind of scenario that Wes Anderson handles so well.) Depicting his mother as a psuedo-intellectual monster who terrorizes her fellow poets makes the whole thing feel like revenge for her abandoning him which certainly does not help matters. I cannot but help feel that maybe there was more to the woman than that. On top of that, Burroughs is something of a hypocrite.[/font] [font=Century Gothic][/font] [font=Century Gothic]A game cast helps, though. The underemployed Annette Bening reminds us why she is one of the best actors around in a mostly thankless role. Alec Baldwin is getting better with each movie while Joseph Fiennes manages to expand his range for once.[/font]

• Ryan M

  
  * out of **** At the age of twelve, Augusten Burroughs found himself the sole child in the middle of a rough marriage. His father (Alec Baldwin) - an alcoholic - and his mother Deidre (Annette Bening) - a psychotic - fought constantly and eventually their kitchen-bound warfare of… More
  * out of **** At the age of twelve, Augusten Burroughs found himself the sole child in the middle of a rough marriage. His father (Alec Baldwin) - an alcoholic - and his mother Deidre (Annette Bening) - a psychotic - fought constantly and eventually their kitchen-bound warfare of both the physical and emotional variety got so intense that Burroughs' mother sent him to live with her psychiatrist, Dr. Finch (Brian Cox); a good doctor, according to Deidre. The Finch house is populated by the doctor, his daughters, and his wife, who eats dog food directly from the rough paper bag while watching "Dark Shadows". This is the story of Augusten's adolescent years spent in this crazy house with these crazy people and those crazy thoughts that go through your head when you're of that age. It also concerns Augusten's realization of his sexuality; as well as his relationship with the adopted son of Dr. Finch, Neil Bookman (Joseph Fiennes), who is several decades older than Augusten. That was the plot of the 2002 memoir "Running with Scissors", written by Augusten Burroughs himself, that was eventually revealed by its author to be a mixture of fact and fiction. Regardless of what was true and what wasn't, I read the shit out of the book and enjoyed it immensely; what carries it is Burroughs' gift for highly descriptive language/choice of words, and the story actually drew you in emotionally with a blend of humor and melancholy. Think what you will, I thought it was pretty darn good. Augusten has gone on to write many more pseudo-memoires, and I'm sure a lot of them are just as good, if not better (or worse, since you know, that's a possibility). I only question him in his ability to tell the complete truth and admit it if he isn't. I said that the basic synopsis I provided was the plot of Burroughs' pseudo-memoir because it isn't really the plot of Ryan Murphy's 2007 film adaptation. Murphy closes in specifically on the relationship between Burroughs and his schizo mom and disregards most of the themes regarding Burroughs' sexuality or the traumatic effects that the doctor's profession might have on his children. Quite a bit from the book made it to the movie, but being faithful to a source novel means more than just locking in the images and situations and bringing them to the screen. In this case, it would also mean the manipulation of the difficult yet undeniably honest emotions that flowed through the pages of Burroughs' memoir; and that's precisely where this adaption is sorely lacking. You can tell it's a train-wreck going nowhere within the first ten minutes. It's almost skit-like in its presentation with nothing to sew it all together. I didn't feel that the point of Burroughs' novel was to point out the eccentricities of the Finch family. There are characters, like the hopeless Hope (Gwyneth Paltrow) - who does a terrible thing to the family cat out of delusion - and the "other daughter" Natalie (Evan Rachel Wood), who is decidedly more of a rebel than her sister, who offered insight into Augusten's story in the book, yet here they merely...exist, or something. It would have been cool if they had elaborated on the relationships shared between Augusten and each supporting character individually, but I felt as if the film cared more about treating them all as a whole. And you see; that just doesn't work out. I'm convinced by this film alone that Burroughs' literary works should never be adapted for the screen again, since some authors' stories are meant to exist in the medium that they were originally made for. Some books are like that; and I knew from the beginning that "Running with Scissors" was one of those books that was going to be awkwardly translated for film if it was translated at all. It doesn't just feel compressed, like a lot of adaptations do. This is just bad filmmaking. It's been a while since a film legitimately pissed me off as this one did, but there you have it. I don't usually read a book before seeing a movie but I must admit, it's become somewhat of a habit lately and I intend to continue following up on the "habit". As someone who took the time to read the "memoir", I find this movie particularly discouraging. It feels as if everyone involved didn't actually READ the book before exploring these territories. This is not the story that Burroughs wrote. This is some dull, predictable, stupid, PG-13 caliber Hollywood version of it. It's supposed to be both funny and sad, just like the book, but I think I laughed once (in a scene where Bening's character takes a valium with mediocre 70's pop music playing in the background) and I know for a fact I didn't cry. You could have given me the benefit of including the gay sex scenes from the novel. At least then I could stare at this film with some dark, morbid sense of amusement. Instead I just feel dead and gone. Murphy and company should be ashamed.

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