The Squid and the Whale (2005)

This semi-autobiographical movie about a marriage coming apart at the seams in the mid-'80s leaves no doubt about who the author blames for the mess his family went through.

Bernard (boorish professor and has-been novelist) and Joan (warm and giving up-and-coming novelist) are breaking up and blindsiding their two boys, Walt (16) and Owen (11), with the news. The father comes up with a joint custody plan that maximizes the difficulty of the situation, lives in a dump, constantly talks his wife down to his boys, invites a young female student to live in the home, and openly dislikes his younger son. The mother seems to work hard to cast Bernard in a decent light, allows her older son to make his own decisions -- even when it involves accusing his mother with words his father fed him, and tries to keep things as normal as possible. So, we get it. Dad's a selfish pig and mom should get a medal for putting up with him as long as she did. The acting is superb all around, but the one-sidedness of the story really bothered me. It felt unfair to deny Bernard any redeeming qualities. Is anyone this one-dimensional? And, if so, how often do they get a wife who ISN'T a doormat to stick around for almost 20 years?

I was also seriously disturbed watching most scenes in which Owen was alone. Sure -- I know that divorce screws kids up, but he gets screwed up in a spectacularly dysfunctional way. That this young actor had to even pretend to do the things he did was uncomfortable knowledge.

C+