Summary: Bernard (Jeff Daniels) was once a successful novelist; now he's a stuffy, patronizing college professor. His wife Joan (Laura Linney) has been learning to write and has just published her first novel. And she's been having multiple love affairs for years. The two separate and the battle over the kids begins. Big brother Walt idolizes his father and hates his mother, but mostly just wants a girlfriend. 12-year old Frank sides with Mom and has some major problems of his own.
This quirky little film is definitely not the "comedy" it claims to be. It is drama all the way; a thought-provoking and sobering look at divorce. The four leads are uniformly brilliant. Jeff Daniels plays against type as a pompous windbag who likes to dominate people by being smarter than they are. Linney is also excellent playing an evolving wife and mother. The boys who play the sons really steal the show. They both show a lot of depth and maturity in very challenging roles (that are the reason for the R rating). The movie was filmed on location in Brooklyn and Manhattan and has a very real, urban feel to it. The final scene in the Natural History Museum is the perfect ending to a very satisfying movie.
The Squid and the Whale
(2005)
USA
