Writer/Director Noah Baumbach tells a thinly veiled story of his parents’ divorce, and the result is a good example of why autobiographical films work so rarely. The end result is a lot like sitting through your neighbor's vacation videos, only in this case you hate your neighbor. While it's admirable that Baumbach writes his characters with all their flaws because at heart he loves them, we’re given no reason to love or even care about this disintegrating family. The plot is connected only because it’s chronological, and the ending seems tacked on mainly because there is so little narrative to most of the film that dragging one in for the final few minutes rings false.
All that said, the movie’s not a complete disaster. The actors are uniformly superb (especially Laura Linney, who seems unable to turn in a poor performance wherever she appears), and there are some truly funny, unconventional moments. Still, the end result is uncomfortable, which is fine if it also offers some insight. The Squid and the Whale never even comes close.
NO (4/10)
1 comment:
Are you crazy? This was probably the best movie of 2005. Jeff Daniels was amazing!
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