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The Savages enters theaters in a season of family films and holiday blockbusters.  Tough crowd for a film that is a comedy with a dark cloud constantly surrounding it. Can solid writing and superb acting bring box-office results? You would like to think so but the truth is we want to walk out of the theater feeling jolly this time of year. While you are out hustling your bustle you want entertainment that is light and cheery. That fact alone may cause many to pass over this film. But those who want a movie that is at the core fantastic film making, may want to head to the nearest art house and check it out.

The Savages is written and directed by Tamara Jenkins who has been relatively quiet since her 1998 hit Slums of Beverly Hills. This time she brings a script that is based loosely on events in her own life while shining light on a real life situation that impacts many people's lives. The story revolves around 2 adult siblings (Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman) who are brought together in order to care for their ailing father (Philip Bosco) who is battling dementia. Though a series subject, Tamara manages to mix in humor and light moments that cause you to laugh along with the characters as well as stress with them over the decisions they have to make. 

The acting is incredible. Hoffman and Linney prove why talent is more than a name and high profile. They work together to bring a fictitious family to
life and make the sibling element believable. The side plots that deal with their own personal relationships and careers add a dimension to the film and
break the level of tension. They bicker nicely and have a comfortable rapport. Besides the father there are no other characters to carry the plot
and story. This puts the weight completely on the shoulders of the two main leads. And they carry it to the end. 

The Savages is rated R for some sexuality and language. It is a dramatic comedy and the theme alone makes it not for younger audiences. Otherwise,
the language is relevant to the characters without being gratuitous. The same applies to the sexuality. It is there as an emotional element and gives
an insight into the mental state of the character. Tamara delivers a solid script and the cast brings it to life nicely. I give it 3.5 out of 5 private
rooms. 

Matt Mungle (matt@mungleshow.com)(11/28/07)

Matt is a member of the North Texas Film Critics Association (NTFCA) and co-hosts a weekly radio feature, The Mungles on Movies, with his wife Cindy. For additional reviews, interview clips and great DVD giveaways, visit the website www.mungleshow.com

Review copyright 2007 Mungleshow Productions. Used by Permission.

To hear Matt's interview with Writer/Director Tamara Jenkins click below!

http://www.mungleshow.com/tjenkins.mp3

The subject of dealing with a family member suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease or senile dementia has been in the forefront this year. Julie Christie was prominent in Away From Her, set in wintertime, and now we have Philip Bosco as the father (in wintertime) who has a dementia diagnosis. Laura Linney (The Nanny Diaries) and Philip Seymour Hoffman (Before The Devil Knows You Are Dead) are Bosco's children in a tale of separation, confrontation, realization and finalization. Director/writer Tamara Jenkins (The Slums of Beverly Hills) gives us a satirical look at family relationships.
 
Philip Seymour Hoffman is the older brother of Laura Linney. He lives in the northeastern part of the country, while she is in New York City. Philip has a doctorate on Berthold Brecht and lectures on topics so obscure one wonders if people stay awake. He has a Polish girlfriend and likes his house comfortable, rather unkempt and lived in. Laura, on the other hand, is Miss Sympathetically Perfect, who works as an office temp while writing plays and grants to have those plays produced. One senses an undercurrent of rivalry between the two. Dad (Philip Bosco) moved to Sun City years before and has been living with a girlfriend. Suddenly, the girlfriend dies and Dad is literally tossed out. Laura and Philip are notified because Dad has been diagnosed as having senile dementia and is unable to care for himself.
 
On the surface, the family works together to help Dad. There is the move from Arizona to the East (quite an accident on the plane), trying to see if Dad can live with help (Laura’s idea), and then finding a nursing facility for Dad (Philip’s idea.) In the middle is Dad, cranky, faulty memory, physically failing and becoming verbally abusive. Philip, the laid-back sibling is taking this better than Laura, who is losing control of her life and doesn’t like it. In the background are Philip’s girlfriend and Laura’s married boyfriend. This is not a perfect world.
 
The Savages refers to the family’s last name, it is Savage. This is also the way the father seems to have attacked family situations, including brow-beating the son into perfection and ignoring the efforts of the daughter. Mom is notably absent and one senses a schism of long ago. What bothered me about the script is that Laura’s character seems clueless about the aging process (vain herself) and is appalled that a nurse suggests diapers for Dad. She is still living in a life of twenty years ago. It’s the last third of the film that brings her character into reality and this is too late to relate to her. Hoffman, on the other hand, is long-suffering, nonchalant and somewhat sloppy. An I-don’t-care attitude that went over the edge. Philip Bosco as Dad has nothing to do but scowl, growl, and offer a glimpse of remembering the past. Dad has been living with the girlfriend for twenty years, so has no one bothered to notice his health decline? The Savages are not a family of turkey dinners and Christmas trees.
 
All in all, The Savages offers a look at how someone’s life can be disrupted at an inopportune moment by a family member. The sense of responsibility is difficult to accept, particularly when distance, both in years and miles, are present. People who care for other people can be kind and understanding, too, and all you have to do it is let down your barriers and be friendly. It is these people, riding in the wake of the Savages, who make the film interesting.
 
Copyright 2007 Marie Asner