Audience Rated by buyers R (Restricted)
Type of bind: Video On Demand
Release Date: October 01, 2008
Running Time: 115 minutes
Sale Popularity Level: 17139
Studio: Fox Searchlight
Theatrical Release Date: November 28, 2007
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Rated by buyers -
When the elderly Lenny has a "toileting incident," and his girl friend Doris dies, his baby boomer children from whom he has been long estranged travel from New York to Sun City, Arizona, to care for their dad. Jon (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and Wendy (Laura Linney) relocate Lenny to Buffalo, New York, where they put him in a "nursing home." There are curled family photos to sort through, bingo twice a week, reams of forms to sign, and palpable angst about what they've done and how everyone will cope. "We're taking better care of him," says Jon, "than he did of us." Lenny suffers from dementia and "disinhibition." Jon is 42 and single, has high cholesterol, and just lost his Polish girlfriend. Wendy is 39 and single, has a boyfriend who's married, pops Xanax for her nerves, and hopes to jump start her freelance writing career with a grant. Writer and director Tamara Jenkins was nominated for an Oscar for combining mid-life humour and family heartache in a destiny that awaits us all -- the role reversal when aging children must care for their aged parents.
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Billed as a dark comedy, 'The Savages' is certainly not standard movie fare but I think it's a film that we're richer for having around. Many have tackled end-of-life issues before but very few have done it like this. It is an unsentimental, unapologetic, slice-of-life depiction of two middle aged siblings, Linney (in an Oscar-nominated turn) and Hoffman, managing the rapid mental deterioration and death of their estranged, abusive father and the process - physiological and logistical - that entails.
It averts its gaze from none of the practical and emotional issues met by everyone whose family members live so long. From scatological problems to the appalling reality of nursing homes to the pressures of guilt, it covers the bases. It does punctuate it with moments of humour and sprinkles knowingly wry observations of sibling dynamics throughout. But there are no saccharine reconciliations or dramatic changes of heart in the last act to pull the punches. Things just happen and the people react as we all do - with integrity and responsibility in some areas and utter cowardice and flakiness in others. And with many things left unsaid.
My only real nit to pick is a slight sense of self-indulgence in the characters' professions. Everyone but the father is in the theater (or wants to be). It leads to a bit of inside humour that took me out of the movie a few times. (If you know who Bertolt Brecht is, it could open up another level of Hoffman's character to you. He briefly summarizes Brecht's epic philosophy at one point.) But it's not a huge liability.
Linney and Hoffman are, of course, impeccable but I believe Philip Bosco, who plays the largely silent role of the father, deserves praise as well. He speaks volumes with exhausted eyes and resigned yet pained stillness.
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Hoffman is very first rate, as always. I've never really been a Linney fan, but I could really relate to this character. Bosco was brilliant. I can only say this film's portrayal of the scenario was REAL. It struck a nerve... was raw, intense, funny at times, ironic. A real treasure of acting and filmmaking.
Rated by buyers 
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It is hard to watch a movie when none of the characters are likable enough to even care about them. The father and son's characters seemed believable to me, but Wendy completely lost me. But then what would one expect from a forty year old spinster whose lofty relationship aspiration is a love-HATE affair with a married man? Watch the movie for the men's acting, but don't expect to get any edification on family relationships. The best I can say for this movie is that it raises the question (but gives no answers) of caring for elderly members of our families who are distinctly failing.
Rated by buyers -
From the opening scene on, it is apparent the director is taking cues from "indie" movies of the past couple decades and exploring well-worn territory. The actors are forced to play scarcely likeable charcters and deliver lines of dialogue better suited for a TV program on the WB network. Have I mentioned I didn't like this movie?
Sure, it offers something different than your average Hollywood pile of hackneyed vomit, but it lacks the substance of truly moving cinema and instead employs cheap tactics meant to make us feel a certain way.
Even though I knew I didn't like what I was watching, I sat through the whole thing to give it a chance to redeem itself. I took nothing away from the experience. I was curious about who was responsible for this, so I watched the behind the scenes featurette wherein the director babbles on and on about her beloved masterpiece. Then I REALLY hated the movie. From my perspective, this is the self-indulgent dabbling of a bourgeois snob with connections.
If you want to see an indie family-drama with heart and soul that really succeeds, check out Noah Baumbach's two most recent films: "The Squid and the Whale," and "Margot at the Wedding."
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