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Reviews Counted:162
Fresh:144
Rotten:18
Average Rating:7.5/10
Consensus: Thanks to a tender, funny script from director Tamara Jenkins, and fine performances from Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney, this film delivers a nuanced, beautifully three-dimensional look at the struggles and comforts of family bonds.
Theatrical Release:25-01-2008
Synopsis: Director Tamara Jenkins made audiences sit for nearly a decade for her follow-up to the hilarious dark comedy SLUMS OF BEVERLY HILLS, but it's been worth the wait. Like her previous film, THE... [More]
Starring: Laura Linney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Philip Bosco, Peter Friedman
Director: Tamara Jenkins
It's just a shame the script doesn't push the humour further; brief, amusing put-downs aren't quite enough to make this a bonafide comedy. But if you're looking for a well-performed drama about dementia, you've got it.
Top CriticA powerful, incisive, often very funny look at aging, ailing family dynamics, superbly acted by two of the best in the business.
Top CriticA richly nuanced American comedy, with two acting talents working at their absolute peak.
Top CriticClick to read the article
Top CriticLinney and Hoffman deliver two more creatively textured performances in this story about the strain and comfort of family relationships.
The pleasures are small but intense and the spell cast in one of the most surprisingly moving films of the year is captivating.
Hoffman and Linney are wonderful -- underplaying so perfectly that crumpled, bittersweet truths continue to surface.
Top CriticJenkins’s solemn comedy may be 389 jokes short of a Woody Allen classic, but there is a tenderness about these flawed heroes that is profoundly touching.
Top CriticTwo fine performances, a subject close to all our hearts and a screenplay that manages to be both brilliantly witty and almost unbearably poignant add up to the best family comedy-drama since Little Miss Sunshine.
Emotionally engaging, sharply written and superbly directed drama with terrific performances from Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney.
This is not a Sam Shepherd play; it feels more like HBO.
Sharp, funny, and acerbic...Movies that are as truthful and observant as this one are rare.
It is the very particular humanity of the characters involved that makes it a successful and unique work of art.
Although the story may sound as dismal as Buffalo's weather, it's surprisingly funny. Not gag funny, but observation funny -- the absurdities of real life, seen and presented.
...bitter and heartbreaking, an unsentimental examination of human needfulness that allows for traces of grace amid the ashes.
Despite its dark humor, The Savages tackles the tough topics of aging, frailty, humiliation and death. All depressing stuff, to be sure, but Jenkins handles it with a delicate, relatable touch, and without being maudlin.
This film is immensely rewarding and in its own way exceptionally beautiful.
Click to read the article
Top CriticIn Tamara Jenkins' brutally frank and occasionally funny look at lives shaped by disappointment and fear, their love for each other binds them through the worst of times.
Jenkins' superlative work proves her first film was no fluke; let's hope it doesn't take another nine years to hear from her again.
April 21, 2008:
RT on DVD: Cloverfield, Charlie Wilson and 2008's Worst-Reviewed Film
It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a Slusho, whatever that is! Cloverfield stomps its way onto DVD as not only the most exciting new release of the week, but the one most... More...
January 25, 2008:
Laura Linney on The Savages: The RT Interview
In the wake of her Oscar nomination, we chat to Laura Linney about her role, working with Philip Seymour Hoffman and dealing with life's most challenging moments. More...
January 11, 2008:
Juno, No Country for Old Men Among Writers Guild Award Nominees
If there's one Hollywood awards ceremony that you'd think would be able to go off without a hitch this year, it'd be the Writers Guild Awards -- but you'd be wrong. More...
December 17, 2007:
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, Dexter Make AFI's 2007 Best-Of List
If there's one thing the American Film Institute loves, it's a list -- and with the end of 2007 rapidly approaching, you know what that means: It's time to run down the AFI's... More...
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