I see that it appeared and was discussed briefly in a few CS Oscar Threads - but it didn’t have seem to have its own thread (sorry if I missed it somehow).
I am not at all surprised it wasn’t a commercial success. I certainly see why it is a Globe for best ensemble and got the Oscar nomination for screen play.
But it has to be one the grittiest real-life depictions of divorce I have ever seen on the screen. Especially the Daniels Character, but Linney, and The oldest boy too.
Even Billy Baldwin was good — for a laugh - which was his job here.
Calling it a Comedy/Drama though I think is misleading
yes, the oldest son’s singing/winning, being praised for Hey You, some of Daniel’s stuff like being loaded in the ambulance, Baldwin etc is funny
But it seems like it much more is a drama, a kind of dark one at that, with some humorous moments
Hey, is that Bert Jansch?! Cool! Here’s hoping this raises the poor guy’s public profile, just as **There’s Something About Mary ** gave a boost to Jonathan Richman… [snarkily] Does this mean we can all stop fawning over Nick Drake now?
Hostilities breaking out in the friendly family tennis match. Okay, that seems uncomfortably realistic and well-drawn… This marriage is clearly circling the drain. Hope the 'rents don’t drag their kids under in the process.
The intellectual pretensions and emotional constipation of the father, and his decidedly mixed influence over his older son… interesting. I totally bought that son’s intellectual insecurity and overweening desire to emulate the sophisticated tastes and cultural mastery of his father, but wondered why he wasn’t also torn by a stronger impulse toward teenage rebellion, especially after the marital shit hits the fan. (He does eventually get there, sorta, but it sure takes a while.)
The younger son’s brave straightforwardness and rejection of all intellectual pretension and imititation of his father was a breath of fresh air and made for a richly character-drawn observational humor. (“No, I am a philistine!”) Now, this is the character who shows the greatest early promise! I hope he wins Wimbledon someday!
What, a whole auditorium of high-school kids and nobody recognizes Pink Floyd when they hear it (and what’s more, nobody heckles him for his plagiarism)? WTF?!?
The frustration of the driver trying to find a g@%#$@%ed parking space in Park Slope was too funny. You think that’s tough, try finding a space in Hoboken sometime, chump.
More intellectual pretensions via the grad school seminar… could’ve been better written, I thought. But that off-hours hanky-panky in the making is really uncomfortable to watch. Funny how the camera can turn the viewer into a voyeur and force my reluctant identification with the older son during an ugly revelation…
Wow, the mother’s a real manipulative bitch in her own way, relating to her older son like that. Yecch. Does she think she’s fooling anyone with her evasive language designed to duck full responsibility just like that of some convicted felon in a group therapy session? (“It’s a habit of mine.”) Hope she’s set aside some child support $$$ for therapy for her son…
Slogging through the DVD’s extra features – Noah Baumbach’s a real hottie, but I just friggin’ can’t stand the insecure (and I thought cloyingly affected, pseudo-intellectual) way he speaks, and with more "you know"s than any Valley Girl circa 1983. Just grow a pair already, dude… you’ve made an art-house mini-classic film, so relax a bit.
Well, I’ve actually met Noah (his wife and my wife have been best friends since they were three-years-old), and that’s just the way he talks. But I’ll be sure and pass on your advice.
