The Savages
2007
**½
Director: Tamara Jenkins
Cast: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Laura Linney, Philip Bosco, Peter Friedman, Guy Boyd, Debra Monk, Rosemary Murphy, David Zayas, Gbenga Akinnagbe
Jon Savage is a self-important academic and his sister Wendy is a flaky wannabe playwright who is in an affair with a married man. Now these estranged siblings must arrange care for their dementia-stricken father. Tamara Jenkins' family drama follows in the footsteps of Sarah Polley's Azlheimer's story Away from Her. This one is less about the patient and his deteriorating health and more about the self-absorbed family members. However, the story would have a far greater impact if Jon and Wendy had actual lives that were disrupted by the new circumstances. All in all, they come off too lightly, both emotionally and financially. The resulting film is sympathetic and well acted, but never terribly moving (or funny). It concludes with a baffling and totally irrelevant coda set six months later.
