Running with Scissors is a thought-provoking film about young lives whacked and warped by the excessive craziness of adults. The drama is based on the best-selling memoir by Augusten Burroughs, and it has been adapted for the screen by writer and director Ryan Murphy. As you watch the young protagonist as a boy and then as an adolescent coming-of-age, you see that nearly every conceivable obstacle is put in his way by irresponsible adults. Yet miraculously he manages to survive, thanks to an inner resiliency and his trusty journal where he can vent all his feelings. Whereas most kids his age complain of being bored with their activities and sick of the sameness of their days, he yearns to do ordinary things and have days of normalcy. Excess, as Lao Tzu points out the Tao Te Ching, can lead to a life of disappointment and endless suffering.
Growing up in the 1970s, Augusten (Joseph Cross) is the apple of his mother Deirdre's (Annette Bening) eye. She has come to hate her husband, Norman (Alec Baldwin), an alcoholic math professor who doesn't appreciate her talents as a poet. She has published her own book of confessional verse and dreams of one day becoming famous and reading her creations to a packed house at Carnegie Hall.
Deidre eventually drives her husband out of the house and turns to the ministrations of Dr. Finch (Brian Cox), a very strange psychiatrist who has a whole bag of pills and potions for his clients. He tells her that she is a huge talent, encouragement that leads to her decision to focus all her energy and attention on her dream. She has Augusten move into the Finch household and later agrees to have the doctor adopt him.
In his new home, this nervous young man finds himself surrounded by some very weird people. Dr. Finch has adjacent to his office a room he calls his Masturbatorium and, at times, he reads signs from God in his fresh feces in the toilet. His meek wife (Jill Clayburgh) watches a lot of television while eating dog kibble. Their daughter Hope (Gwyneth Paltrow) reads the Bible for random directions on everything, including care of her cat. Daughter Natalie (Evan Rachel Wood) is the rebel. Another "adopted" son is Neil Bookman (Joseph Fiennes) who lives out in a shed behind the disheveled and perpetually dirty Finch house. When Augusten learns that Neil is gay just like him, they begin a friendship even though this 35-year-old is a very angry and lost soul.
In one of his antic moments, Dr. Finch says: "What would we be without our crazy childhoods?" After seeing this movie, you may want to say a few prayers for all the valiant youth who survived the craziness of their parents who broke the promise to love and watch over them.
Special DVD features include three behind-the-scenes featurettes: 1) "A Personal Memoir by Augusten Burroughs" – the author relates to how he wrote the book, why he selected Ryan Murphy to adapt it, and how he worked with the cast to help them step into this very specific world. 2) "Inside Outsiders" - the cast discusses how they created their extreme characters. 3) "Creating the Cuckoo’s Nest" - the production designer and director Ryan Murphy discuss how they created the crazy Finch home; and "Take a guided tour of this domestic freak show."
