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The Savages

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The Savages (2007)

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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.

Rated: 15 [See Full Rating] for some sexuality and language.

Runtime: 1 hr 53 mins

Genre: Dramas

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... 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 SAVAGES is a sometimes-funny, sometimes-sad look at family dynamics, but this time around the sense of humor is more wry than riotous. Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman play Wendy and Jon Savage, a pair of siblings on the cusp of middle age. She's earning money in New York City as a temp as she writes an autobiographical play about their childhood, while he lives in Buffalo, teaching college and finishing a book on Bertolt Brecht. Their estranged father (Philip Bosco) lives across the country, but the Savages reluctantly rush to see him when they learn that he may not be able to take care of himself any longer. Jon and Wendy bicker over problems old and new as they try to figure out what's best for a man they barely know. Like Noah Baumbach in THE SQUID AND THE WHALE and MARGOT AT THE WEDDING, writer-director Jenkins knows how to mine family dysfunction for both comedy and drama. Jon and Wendy tear into each other as only people connected by blood can, but their fighting feels entirely genuine, largely thanks to the performances of Linney and Hoffman. Though they'll get most of the buzz for their roles, character actor Bosco is heartbreaking as their aging father. Though his decline is difficult to watch, the actor's performance is absolutely mesmerizing. [More]

Starring: Laura Linney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Philip Bosco, Peter Friedman

Starring: Laura Linney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Philip Bosco, Peter Friedman, Gbenga Akinnagbe

Director: Tamara Jenkins

Director: Tamara Jenkins
Screenwriter: Tamara Jenkins
Producer: Ted Hope, Anne Carey, Erica Westheimer
Composer: Stephen Trask
Studio: Fox Searchlight Pictures

[See More Credits]

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Reviews for The Savages

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61 - 80 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 >> >|
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The Savages not only boasts Oscar-worthy performances from Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney as a self-absorbed brother and sister, its attention to detail makes it sweetly funny and genuine.

Full Review Source: Detroit Free Press | comment Comment
12/26/07
John Monaghan
John Monaghan
Detroit Free Press

A comedy of discomfort, The Savages is a brilliantly acted film about people who are kidding themselves, a state of being that is as funny as it is sad.

Full Review Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press | comment Comment
12/26/07
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
St. Paul Pioneer Press

The Savages isn't cheery holiday fare, ... and yet Jenkins makes her film unexpectedly uplifting, in a small-scale, real-life kind of way.

Full Review Source: Seattle Times | comment Comment
12/26/07
Moira MacDonald
Moira MacDonald
Seattle Times

An acerbic, wonderfully acted comedy-drama about family ties and mortality.

Full Review Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer | comment Comment
12/26/07
Paula Nechak
Paula Nechak
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

The film is savagely funny about the indignities of old age, yet optimistic that it’s never too late to have a happy childhood.

Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune | comment Comment
12/26/07
Colin Covert
Colin Covert
Minneapolis Star Tribune

The Savages isn’t so much about plot as about moments, and this film -- thanks to Linney and Hoffman -- is filled with keepers.

Full Review Source: Kansas City Star | comment Comment
12/26/07
Robert W. Butler
Robert W. Butler
Kansas City Star

Reality wounds but also heals in The Savages, writer-director Tamara Jenkins' cuttingly funny-sad family drama.

Full Review Source: Baltimore Sun | comment Comment
12/26/07
Michael Sragow
Michael Sragow
Baltimore Sun
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch | comment Comment
12/26/07
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Tamara Jenkins' 'The Savages': Laura Linney, The Most Overlooked Great Gctress of Her Generation, Soars with Authenticity

Full Review Source: Passionate Moviegoer | comment Comment
12/25/07
Joe Baltake
Joe Baltake
Passionate Moviegoer

---- a biting, sometimes hilarious drama ----

Full Review Source: Kaplan vs. Kaplan | comment Comment
12/24/07
Jeanne Kaplan
Jeanne Kaplan
Kaplan vs. Kaplan

This is a movie that is actually better upon a second viewing.

Full Review Source: Kaplan vs. Kaplan | comment Comment
12/24/07
David Kaplan
David Kaplan
Kaplan vs. Kaplan

Affecting and dangerously close to home.

Full Review Source: Palo Alto Weekly | comment Comment
12/22/07
Jeanne Aufmuth
Jeanne Aufmuth
Palo Alto Weekly

In the end it's worth a look, but you might wish you had some of Wendy's happy pills that she ripped off from her father's dead girlfriend.

Full Review Source: TheMovieChicks.com | comment Comment
12/21/07
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone
TheMovieChicks.com

The dynamic that operates throughout this film is fantasy versus reality, not just in the lives of the characters but in American life in general.

Full Review Source: Toronto Star | comment Comment
12/21/07
Susan Walker
Susan Walker
Toronto Star

Tamara Jenkins has made a movie about something that lots of people are going through but nobody wants to deal with, not even in life, much less in entertainment. And she's done it fearlessly, with the right mix of humor and horror.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
12/21/07
Mick LaSalle
Mick LaSalle
San Francisco Chronicle

The movie greedily uses its rich cast.

Full Review Source: San Diego Union-Tribune | comment Comment
12/21/07
David Elliott
David Elliott
San Diego Union-Tribune

Director Jenkins handles this tricky material with tact and a nuanced touch -- there are laughs, but the circumstance is real enough to resonate with anyone who's experienced the confusion, guilt, and disorientation that such a circumstance imposes.

Full Review Source: Philadelphia Daily News | comment Comment
12/21/07
Gary Thompson
Gary Thompson
Philadelphia Daily News

In the end, we were bored. In the end, it all seemed pretty trite.

Full Review Source: Jam! Movies | comment Comment
12/21/07
Liz Braun
Liz Braun
Jam! Movies

The humor in The Savages is born out of the performances by Linney and Hoffman, two actors who can convey as much about their characters as the ones around them with a seemingly effortless, instinctual ability.

Full Review Source: Miami Herald | comment Comment
12/21/07
Rene Rodriguez
Rene Rodriguez
Miami Herald

Jenkins couldn't have found actors more suited to straddle the delicate, subtle line between detestable and sympathetic.

Full Review Source: Contra Costa Times | comment Comment
12/21/07
Mary F. Pols
Mary F. Pols
Contra Costa Times
 
 
61 - 80 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 >> >|
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Latest News for The Savages

April 21, 2008: RT on DVD: Cloverfield, Charlie Wilson and 2008's Worst-Reviewed Film
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