RUNNING WITH SCISSORS
Year: 2006
USA & UK: Sony Pictures Releasing
Cast: Annette Bening, Brian Cox, Gwyneth Paltrow, Joseph Fiennes, Evan Rachel Wood, Alec Baldwin, Jill Clayburgh, Joseph Cross, Kristin Chenoweth, Gabrielle Union, Patrick Wilson, Kristin Chenoweth, Dagmara Dominczyk, Colleen Camp, Jack Kaeding, Gabriel Guedj, Nancy Cassaro, Omid Abtahi, Julie Remala, Will Carter, Bonnie Weis, Dakotah Masset, Marianne Muellerleile
Director: Ryan Murphy
Country: USA
USA & UK: 122 mins
USA Rated: R for strong language and elements of sexuality, violence and substance abuse
UK Certificate: 15 contains very strong language
USA Release Date: 27 October 2006
USA Release Date: 20 October 2006 (Limited Release)
UK Release Date: 2 February 2007
UK DVD Release Date: 18 June 2007
Synopsis
At once a blistering comedy and a deeply moving human drama, RUNNING WITH SCISSORS is the mesmerizing tale of how a young man survived a nightmare childhood - while keeping his sense of humor and his sense of forgiveness intact. The film is writer/director Ryan Murphy's interpretation of Augusten Burrough's personal memoir. In the film, Murphy not only tells the story of a warped, out-of-control, 70s-era coming of age, he has also crafted a strikingly universal story about the strange power of families, the wonderment of childhood, the madness of adulthood and the revelation of finding your way in spite of it all.
The movie begins in 1971 as the neatness-obsessed but sharply observant 6 year-old Augusten (Joseph Cross) finds himself trapped between his troubled parents: his mother Deirdre (Annette Bening), an unpublished, not to mention unstable, confessional poet with delusions of being hugely famous, and his father Norman (Alec Baldwin), an alcoholic math professor who long ago gave up trying to solve the riddle of his wife's problems or his son's precocious behavior.
When the Burroughs' marriage goes to pieces, Deirdre signs up for therapy with the eccentric Dr Finch (Brian Cox), a highly unconventional shrink who takes the family under his wing. From the beginning, Augusten is suspicious of Dr Finch's peculiarities - his office includes, among other oddities, a Masturbatorium where the good doctor goes to relax in the middle of tedious sessions. But when Dr Finch fails to save the Burroughs' marriage, Augusten's life takes an even more wrenching turn. While Deirdre is packed off to a motel to continue her Valium-aided therapy, Augusten is sent to live in the Finch family home - a kind of Brady-Bunch-gone-bad world where for some dog kibble is a snack, sedatives are consumed like candy and grand prophecies emerge from the bathroom.
As Augusten unwittingly becomes part of the family - which also includes the shell-shocked Mrs Finch (Jill Clayburgh), "Bible-dipping" daughter Hope (Gwyneth Paltrow), disco-rebel daughter Natalie (Evan Rachel Wood) and Neil Bookman (Joseph Fiennes), Finch's disturbed, 35 year-old, "adopted" son who lives in a shed at the back of the house - he will descend into a kind of surreal childhood hell. Yet, he will also find optimism among the horror, hilarity in the insanity and even love amid the dilapidated ruins as he never loses his spirit or his resilience. Ultimately, Augusten will survive through the most extraordinary of circumstances.
From director/writer/producer Ryan Murphy (NIP/TUCK) who based his screenplay on Augusten Burroughs' novel Running With Scissors: A Memoir, this comedy/drama stars Joseph Cross as Augusten Burroughs and reveals his very unconventional upbringing in the 1970's.
DVD EXTRAS
Interviews with Augusten Burroughs, cast and director