2008 Woodie Awards
Running with Scissors snip happy
Film is eccentric, but cuts characters, relationships, storyline
Karen Juan
Issue date: 11/7/06 Section: Detour
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If somebody told you that Family Guy is a true story, would you believe them? If you said yes, then you would have no trouble accepting Augusten Burrough's memoir, Running with Scissors. Like Family Guy, Burrough's novel is amusing because it is utterly strange and ridiculous. Unlike the off-the-wall television show though, Running with Scissors claims to be true.
Published in 2002, Burrough's memoir chronicles his bizarre childhood growing up with the unconventional Dr. Finch and his family, after being abandoned by his psychotic mother. From the start, Burroughs establishes he is no ordinary boy: "While all the other kids were starting fights and getting dirty, I was in my bedroom polishing the gold-tone mood rings I made my mother buy me at Kmart and listening to Barry Manilow…."
Augusten's mother, Deirdre, is a seriously ill and overdramatic failed writer, who eventually becomes a lesbian. She leaves 13-year old Augusten with her psychiatrist, Dr. Finch, who looks like Santa Claus but is definitely not children's bedtime story material. He calls the room adjacent to his clinic his "masturbatorium," and believes God is talking to him through his defecation: "It means things are looking up. The s*** is pointing out of the pot and up toward heaven, to God."
The Finches live in a terribly dirty house, which Augusten initially has trouble adjusting to with his perfectly groomed hair and pressed slacks. As time progresses and Augusten loosens up, Dr. Finch's daughter Natalie becomes Augusten's best friend, while 33-year old Neil Bookman, Dr. Finch's adopted son, becomes his lover.
Everything and everyone in the book is either weird or over-the-top. There are moments one has to stop reading and ask, Can this really be happening? It's going to be hard to enjoy the book if one keeps doing this. At one point the reader has to resign him/herself to give up making sense out of it, and just laugh (or cry) with Burroughs. Because although the characters are crazy, they are human; and as Augusten develops feelings for them-whether those of love, hurt or resentment-one can't help but feel them too. Running with Scissors may not be the best comedy or tearjerker of a memoir, but it certainly is the most eccentric.
THE MOVIE
The book's film adaptation, also called Running with Scissors, is currently playing in theatres. Written and directed by Ryan Murphy, the movie stars Joseph Cross as Augusten and Annette Bening as his mother. Gwyneth Paltrow, Joseph Fiennes, and Alec Baldwin also appear in the film. The cast members deliver strong performances, especially Annette Bening, whose portrayal of the melodramatic Deirdre is flawless and natural.
As screenwriter, Murphy salvages the funniest moments of the book, like the feces-reading and ceiling renovation, but scraps several characters and modifies a few relationships. For instance, Murphy makes the relationship between Augusten and Agnes, Dr. Finch's wife, more significant by giving them heartwarming scenes as mother and adopted son. It seems imperative that poor, abandoned Augusten has a new, somewhat sane mother figure in his life. Murphy also alters Augusten's romantic relationship with Bookman, whom he makes into a raging lunatic who hears voices in his head. The movie shows the two having sex, but does not display the inner-workings of their relationship, their genuine love and affection for each other.
Film adaptations are never better than the book, and "Running with Scissors" is no exception. Because the characters, especially Bookman and Natalie, don't appear to be anything other than crazy, the audience doesn't feel any sympathy for them. The audience leaves puzzled, discontented and completely weirded out. Unlike the book, the movie doesn't pull one into the behind-the-scenes story. One just sits there watching; laughing at a bunch of strange people doing silly things. If you want some laughs, and you're not affected by dysfunctional families and psychiatric illnesses, then go check out the movie. If you have more than a couple of hours to spare, I suggest reading the book.