Greenes Please don't spend money on this.

Solidrariol Am I Missing Something?

Comwayon A Disappointing Continuation

Jemima It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

SnoopyStyle Augusten Burroughs' childhood is colored by his eccentric aspiring poet mother Deirdre (Annette Bening). His alcoholic father Norman (Alec Baldwin) is distant. As a teen in 1978, he (Joseph Cross) witnesses his parents fighting ending with his father's bloody head. They call in psychiatrist Dr. Finch (Brian Cox). Norman leaves the family. Deirdre and Augusten move in with Dr. Finch and his weird family. His wife Agnes (Jill Clayburgh) eats dog food. Daughter Hope (Gwyneth Paltrow) is religious. The other daughter Natalie (Evan Rachel Wood) digs in Augusten. After confessing to be gay to her, he befriends the older adopted son Neil Bookman (Joseph Fiennes). A drugged up Deirdre signs her money and Augusten over to Dr. Finch.This weird family seems to be too unreal to be taken seriously. It's filled with wild antics. I expect the quirkiness would lead to laughs but none of it is funny. Cross is fine but I don't feel for his character. Ryan Murphy needs to either make this darker or make it more of a comedy. It doesn't really work as either.

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)

carljessieson Awful. This was horrible. A huge disappointment.I don't know if I can even write how bummed I am about this. I really, really loved the book and was incredibly stoked when I found out there was a movie.Let's do some comparisons: the movie was boring, the book was intriguing. The characters in the movie were ridiculous, rigid, as if they were trying to be exactly what the book said they were without any of the spirit that they had in the book. The conflicts in the book were enticing, made you hunger for more, the conflicts in the movie felt like a messy waste of time. I couldn't even feel anything while watching this movie, not a thing but disappointment, while the feelings evoked during reading were addicting and rendered me unable to close the book. Honestly, I'm not qualified to make this review, because I didn't even finish the movie. That's how awful it was. I left.One thing good about this movie that makes this one scene worth watching: Gwyneth Paltrow. Honestly, usually she's forgettable. I don't often care much for her, but in this one scene, I can't help it. If you're gonna watch this movie, look out for Paltrow in the scene where she's cooking stew. I could not look away. Her acting in this scene is absolutely remarkable. I truly have a lot more respect for her than I did before. Right as I'm writing this, I can only name one other movie where I've seen her..but I doubt I'll ever be able to forget this scene.Don't watch the movie, ever. Go read the book. Augusten Burroughs is an amazing story-teller, Ryan Murphy is not.

Russ I think this is literally the worst movie I have ever seen. A meandering "story" about a bunch of 70's flakes too busy feeling sorry for themselves and popping pills to pull their own heads out of their asses. There was no one to root for. After two hours, I just kept praying that someone, anyone would die or be killed. I hated them all and they all got exactly what they deserved. If anyone ever tries making you watch this, RUN AWAY. Was I supposed to feel sorry for these people? I just hated them all. They were all a product of their own stupidity. Never have I seen a film so devoid of likable characters. Who gave the green light for this odious piece of dog waste?