I thought this was going to be a quirky comedy but actually found it quite disturbing and sad, with the odd touch of very black humour. It is based on the memoirs of Augusten Burroughs and his insane dysfunctional families, both natural and adopted. The cast is absolutely top notch, especially Annette Bening clearly enjoying the mad mum role, Joe Fiennes as 15-year-old Augusten's gay lover who struggles with violent episodes and Jill Clayburgh as the psychiatrist's downtrodden wife with a heart of gold. It upset me because I found it distressing to see parents so wrapped up in their own selfishness that their children suffered in so many ways. I suppose the film is a bit like the Royal Tennenbaums, but with less humour.
'Running with Scissors' is really a film of two halves, the first is bizarre, quirky and quite funny, the second half is quite heartfelt and sad. Although supposedly based on Augusten Burroughs memoirs of his teenage years this is a film which owes a huge amount to Wes Anderson's 'The Royal Tenenbaums', with both films very similar in tone relating to dysfunctional families controlled by a dominating and manipulative father figure, and while not as fulfilling as 'The Tenenbaums' if you like Wes Anderson films then this is worth a rental.