The Savagesa.k.a. “La Famille Savage,” “Die Geschwister Savage”

MPAA Rating:

for some sexuality and language

Moral Rating:

_____

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Moviemaking Quality:

Primary Audience:

Adults

Genre:

Comedy, Drama

Length:

1 hr. 53 min.

Year of Release:

2007

USA Release:

November 28, 2007

Relevant Issues

Anger in the Bible

Fear, Anxiety and Worry… What does the Bible say? Answer

Death

Featuring:	Laura Linney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Philip Bosco, Peter Friedman, David Zayas, Gbenga Akinnagbe, Cara Seymour, Tonye Patano, Guy Boyd, Debra Monk, Rosemary Murphy, Hal Blankenship, Joan Jaffe, Laura Palmer, Salem Ludwig, Sandra Daley, Peter Frechette, Jennifer Lim, Kristine Nielsen, Christopher Durham, Maddie Corman, Cynthia Darlow, Carmen Roman, Nancy Lenehan, Michael Higgins, Madeline Lee, Tijuana Ricks, Margo Martindale, Erica Berg, Michael Blackson, Sidné Anderson, Patti Karr, John Bolton, Zoe Kazan, Lee Sellars, Marianne Weems, Tobin Tyler, Debbi Fuhrman, Lili Liu, Max Jenkins-Goetz
Director:	Tamara Jenkins “Slums of Beverly Hills,” “Family Remains”
Producer:	Anthony Bregman, Jim Burke, Anne Carey, Lori Keith Douglas, Ted Hope, Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor, Erica Westheimer, Fred Westheimer
Distributor:	Fox Searchlight Pictures

Producer’s synopsis: “An irreverent, hilarious and heartbreaking story revolving around a modern American family, THE SAVAGES portrays an all-too-common dilemma: after drifting apart emotionally and geographically over the years, two siblings Wendy (Laura Linney) and Jon (Philip Seymour Hoffman) must band together to care for an elderly parent (Philip Bosco).

The last thing the two Savage siblings ever wanted to do was look back on their undeniably dysfunctional family legacy. Wendy (Academy Award® nominee Laura Linney) is a self medicating struggling East Village playwright, AKA a temp who spends her days applying for grants and stealing office supplies, dating her very married neighbor. Jon (Academy Award® winner Philip Seymour Hoffman) is an obsessive compulsive college professor writing obscure books on even more obscure subjects in Buffalo who still can’t commit to his girlfriend after four years even though her cooking brings him tears of joy.

Then, out of the blue, comes the call that changes everything—the call that informs them that the father they have long feared and avoided, Lenny Savage (Tony Award® winner Philip Bosco), has lost his marbles. And there is no one to help him but his kids. Now, as they put the middle of their already arrested lives on hold, Wendy and Jon are forced to live together under one roof for the first time since childhood, soon rediscovering the eccentricities that drove each other crazy. Faced with complete upheaval and the ultimate sibling rivalry battle over how to handle their father’s final days, they are forced to face the past and finally start to realize what adulthood, family and, most surprisingly, each other are really about.”

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Movie Critics

…a remarkably clear-eyed portrait of that singular period in a middle-aged person’s life when they must cope with the looming mortality of a parent. While the film is heart-wrenchingly sad, it also is mordantly funny, uncomfortably prickly and above all, unflinching in its depiction of a believable sibling relationship.…
—Claudia Puig, USA Today

…beautifully nuanced tragicomedy about two floundering souls… There isn’t a single moment of emotional guff or sentimentality in ‘The Savages,’ a film that caused me to periodically wince, but also left me with a sense of acute pleasure, even joy.…
—Manohla Dargis, The New York Times

…It is more sad-funny than funny-funny, but Jenkins has enough empathy and wit to realize that even the sad parts are, somehow, funny.…
—Kirk Honeycutt, The Hollywood Reporter

…Jenkins brings a rigor, intelligence and eye for the slightly absurd to the proceedings that is instantly disarming and serves notice that her approach will be far from grim or cloying. Indeed, the ever-so-slightly stylized opening emphasizes the humor inherent in the topography and oldster lifestyle in Sun City, Arizona.…
—Todd McCarthy, Variety

…my goodness, it’s depressing… it’s man (or woman) addressing life’s terrors from a humanistic approach…
—Phil Boatwright, Preview Family Movie Review