Novice Writer-Director Maya Forbes has made a touching film based on her family growing up; which features her bipolar-disorder diagnosed father. Forbes' "Infinitely Polar Bear" stars Mark Ruffalo as Cam Stuart, a bipolar man from Boston who has two young daughters and is currently semi-separated from his wife Maggie played by Zoe Saldana. When Maggie decides to flee to New York to pursue her Masters' Degree, Cam is left with the grandiose responsibility of taking care of his two daughters Amelia & Faith. Forbes hardly includes any huge dramatic scenes of the ill effects of bipolar disease in the picture. What she does include is the daily eccentricities of a man with a mental disease carrying task after task of caring for his daughters and all the challenges behind it. The only hiccup I have of this is that subtly Forbes does not incorporate much how horrific it is to live with a mental disease as bipolar disease, obsessive compulsive disorder, etc. Nevertheless, this film is really the vehicle of Mark Ruffalo, as he once again shines infinitely in a character. Mark has made his mark as one of the best actors working today. Zoe Saldana was very solid as Maggie. And Imogene Wolodarksy and Ashley Aufderheide were outstanding as respectively Amelia and Faith. So get on the Polar Express, and go infinitely to "Infinitely Polar Bear". **** Good

I agree with one of the reviewers, this film rates 10 stars...hands down. It IS also, one of Mark Ruffalo's better performances as well .. when is this guy going to get a very well-deserving Oscar?Mark Ruffalo plays a manic depressive husband asked to care for two daughters so that his wife (Zoe Saldana) can get her master's degree in business to support a better life for them.The film has heart, passion, spirit, warmth, and realism .... all bundled & balanced expertly into a fantastic drama/comedy with just the right balance of the rigors of mental illness on the individual and those that they love and are loved by them. It expertly tangos around sensitive issues not only of mental illness, but interracial marriages, parenthood, and a hatful of stereotypes all levels of society face.This hidden treasure will wrap you up in its own special "bear hug". :

The movie doesn't really have a conflict like most movies do, but they characters and the writing draws you in and makes you want to keep watching.I never really though of Mark R. as a serious actor until this role. Now he's one of my favorite actors of all time. The dude has so serious acting skill and he needs to be appreciated more.I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE this movie! I think you may have to be a film student in order to fully understand the beauty and relevance of this movie.It's amazing. Amazing writing, characters, and actors/actresses.

Writer/director Maya Forbes obviously feels quite passionately about the subject of manic depression, and I wouldn't be surprised to find out that the depiction of it in "Infinitely Polar Bear" is based on some personal experience. But the film she's made misses its marks by a wide margin, turning manic depression into something little more serious than a set of wacky eccentricities that with the right frame of mind can make a parent even more fun than he/she might otherwise be. Mark Ruffalo plays the parent struggling with mental illness, caring for his two daughters while his wife and their mother relocates temporarily from Boston to New York to go to school. That a mother would leave her daughters with a mentally unbalanced father in the first place, and further that she would continue to leave them with him after she finds out things like he leaves in the middle of the night and doesn't come home until morning, is treated by the film as no big deal. And it's not a big deal, as the movie would have it, since in this film mental illness just means that one has to deal with a kooky and sometimes embarrassing father. I have direct experience with mental illness, and this film's sugar coating of it is not only unrealistic but is downright irresponsible.Mark Ruffalo hams it up to the high heavens. He's a much better actor than one would ever be able to glean from his performance in this film. Zoe Saldana plays the mother and does OK with a not terribly interesting character, but as written she doesn't make any sense, so there's only so much Saldana could do with the character anyway.Grade: C