The Savages
starring: Philip Bosco, Guy Boyd, Maddie Corman, Peter Frechette, Michael Higgins
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Product Description:
Studio: TcfheRelease Date: 04/22/2008Run time: 113 minutesRating: R
Amazon.com:
It's almost impossible to describe The Savages in a way that makes it sound as richly engaging and enjoyable as it is. The story sounds bleak: Two unhappy siblings--Wendy (Laura Linney, You Can Count on Me) and Jon Savage (Philip Seymour Hoffman, Capote)--are forced to grapple with their dying father (Philip Bosco, Damages) as he slips into dementia. But this spare outline doesn't capture the wealth of human detail that the script and performances contain. Linney and Hoffman vividly portray the sort of cluttered, precarious relationship that brothers and sisters can have, thick with past grievances but also unspoken affections and connections that can't even be articulated. As Wendy and Jon struggle to make some kind of peace with their difficult father, watching these wonderfully understated yet compelling actors is a pleasure unto itself. But the script and direction deserve these actors; filmmaker Tamara Jenkins (Slums of Beverly Hills) finds honest emotion and sly, sideways humor in the starkness of mortality. She doesn't force any easy epiphanies on her story, but lets the characters find solace through their own clumsy efforts. Anyone who appreciates the messiness of humanity--the territory that Hollywood movies seem to have surrendered to smart indie films like The Squid and the Whale, Little Children, or The Good Girl--will find The Savages a smart, genuine, and empathic portrait of life. --Bret Fetzer
Beyond The Savages
Stills from The Savages
Studio: TcfheRelease Date: 04/22/2008Run time: 113 minutesRating: R
Amazon.com:
It's almost impossible to describe The Savages in a way that makes it sound as richly engaging and enjoyable as it is. The story sounds bleak: Two unhappy siblings--Wendy (Laura Linney, You Can Count on Me) and Jon Savage (Philip Seymour Hoffman, Capote)--are forced to grapple with their dying father (Philip Bosco, Damages) as he slips into dementia. But this spare outline doesn't capture the wealth of human detail that the script and performances contain. Linney and Hoffman vividly portray the sort of cluttered, precarious relationship that brothers and sisters can have, thick with past grievances but also unspoken affections and connections that can't even be articulated. As Wendy and Jon struggle to make some kind of peace with their difficult father, watching these wonderfully understated yet compelling actors is a pleasure unto itself. But the script and direction deserve these actors; filmmaker Tamara Jenkins (Slums of Beverly Hills) finds honest emotion and sly, sideways humor in the starkness of mortality. She doesn't force any easy epiphanies on her story, but lets the characters find solace through their own clumsy efforts. Anyone who appreciates the messiness of humanity--the territory that Hollywood movies seem to have surrendered to smart indie films like The Squid and the Whale, Little Children, or The Good Girl--will find The Savages a smart, genuine, and empathic portrait of life. --Bret Fetzer
Beyond The Savages
 More from Laura Linney |  More from Philip Seymour Hoffman |  More Comedies from Fox |
Stills from The Savages
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Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - mid-life humor meets family heartache
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. ... Read More
Rating: - Pulls very few punches
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. ... Read More
Rating: - REAL
Hoffman is 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.
Rating: 
- The Fruits of Narcissism
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 ... Read More
Rating: - Savagely trite "indie film"
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 ... Read More
- mid-life humor meets family heartacheWhen 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. ... Read More
- Pulls very few punchesBilled 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. ... Read More
- REALHoffman is 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.
- The Fruits of NarcissismIt 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 ... Read More
- Savagely trite "indie film"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 ... Read More
