The Savages

While I certainly recommend this film, I’m not certain how much. It’s funny and ruefully true, but I’d seen previews of many of the best moments, so the actual film did not come across as surprisingly as it might. But heck, I’d watch Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman read the phone book for two hours. They play a sister and brother, a would-be playwright and a Brecht scholar, both shy of relationships and largely disappointed in life, who must come together to deal with their abusive father’s decline into dementia and death. A real barrel of laughs. Almost a decade after Slums of Beverly Hills, writer/director Tamara Jenkins confirms her ability to find wit and wisdom in familial dysfunction, or maybe just the function of all families. In the genre of nursing home films, I’d still give last year’s nod to Away from Her, but gee, do you think it’s a life problem that we baby boomers are finally starting to face? (2007, dvd, n.) *7* (MC-85.)