Scanialara You won't be disappointed!

Matcollis This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

Rio Hayward All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Ortiz Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

name lastname Everything is such a generic cliché - a never-do well embarrassing father, a jerk of an older brother, a brat of a little one, a girl who is ashamed of her growing breasts, a junkie of a cousin, blah blah, everyone is so stupid and does such stupid things it hurts, a generic cliché story, distilled by bad and an occasional good joke. Jaw-breakingly while yawning boring.

edwagreen This is a story of a Jewish dysfunctional family. The parents have divorced and mom remains back east in the house. The father, Murray Abromowitz, moves with his children to California, and moves around Beverly Hills so that his children can get the best education possible.Things really become funny when Marisa Tomei, Murray's niece, comes to lives with the group.The film deals with the various adventures of the family complicated by the drug scene of the affluent neighborhood.Jessica Walter costars as a woman who wants Murray to move in with her since she wants a companion.Carl Reiner and Rita Moreno come in towards the end. They play Murray's brother and sister-in-law respectively; they're also the parents of Tomei. In front of the children, Reiner lets loose reminding Murray that he has been paying the bills for them all along.The film ends on a sour note as the embarrassed family moves out of their fancy digs and take to riding around Beverly Hills in their car. I guess the film is promoting independence and some good old self-esteem.

zetes After falling in love with Tamara Jenkins' sophomore feature, The Savages, a short while back, I have finally caught up with her debut. It's pretty obviously a first film. Jenkins has created some memorable characters and some good situations, most certainly culled from real-life experiences. But the story arc is pretty weak. The film is at its best when concentrating on its protagonist, Viv, played by the wonderful Natasha Lyonne. She's a great character, the kind that reminds me of how few well developed female characters there are in movies. I also liked Marisa Tomei's character, too, for the same reason. The men are considerably less interesting, and there are almost too many of them. I've never been a fan of Alan Arkin, so it was hard to overcome that prejudice here. He's kind of a despicable character, and it was hard for me to sympathize with Viv's unconditional love for her father. It doesn't help that Jenkins fails to resolve the father character's major transgression in the last part of the film, instead just dismissing it. Jenkins also bombs most of her set-pieces, and a lot of the scenes she tries to end on laughs are duds. And the jaunty score really needed to be dropped. The movie is not nearly as cheerful as the music seems to think it is. Overall, I liked the movie. But I am impressed that Jenkins could create the perfection of The Savages after a sloppy debut and nine years off. That makes her sophomore feature even more impressive.

Ignatious J Fathead "Slums" is one of the more underrated films of the 1990s. It seems to rub some people the wrong way for unclear reasons, but I found it to be touching and hilarious from start to finish. Perhaps I'm just a sucker for Alan Arkin, whom I've always liked, and see on screen all to infrequently. More likely I was impressed by the witty script, deft direction and solid cast. I especially appreciated the spot-on portrayal of Southern California during the mid-70s, which just happens to be the era when I migrated from "back East" to Los Angeles. Fortunately, we weren't as hapless as the Abramowitz family, who throughout this film are trying desperately to hang onto the ragged edge of the good life.This is one "coming of age" story that you don't need to be a teenage girl to enjoy.