The Savages is a tough movie. It deals with unpleasant themes such as mediocrity, failed relationships and taking care of aging relatives who did not do a good job at parenting. The results are excellent, thanks to the outstanding cast and script.It starts on a sarcastic note, with dad Lenny Savage (a great Philip Bosco) behaving badly in sunny Arizona. Lenny is an unpleasant old man, spending his retirement in a senior-only community. When his female companion dies suddenly, we learn that they were not married and that the house belonged to her. The woman's children want Lenny out ASAP, so his two estranged children, Wendy and Jon (equally great Linney and Seymour Hoffman) must come and take him back to the East Coast, where they live.Also due to their difficult childhood – only hinted at - Wendy and Jon have issues of their own, such as being unable to have healthy, long terms relationships. Wendy is involved in a dispassionate affair with a married man and Jon cannot commit to his long-term Polish girlfriend who must leave the US before being deported. The siblings have a strained relationship of their own, fed on the frustration of having both literary ambitions, but holding mundane jobs.The movie develops their relationship nicely, as the only metaphorical ray of sunshine in an otherwise frosty and desolate landscape. Despite the abuse they suffered at the hands of Lenny and a mother who just "left", they try to do their best to care for their hostile, demented dad, who does not show a shred of gratitude. The movie has a sort of melancholic humour and even manages to end with a much needed uplifting note. Definitely top-class film-making for discerning audiences.

The Savages relies on a sweet and sour story, not free from flaws but very touching, and a real sense of sincerity emerges from the movie at every level.The script, shot in a very simple and intimate way, is pretty tough but genuine and anyone can identify with the situation of the characters, played with nuance by an excellent duo, special mention to Philip Seymour Hoffman who is brilliant as always.However, one can deplore the lack of development of Jon and Wendy's characters, because even though they kind of rediscovered each other, ultimately they didn't evolve much throughout the film despite many possibilities to explore.The potential of the movie therefore doesn't seem to have been fully exploited and it's too bad because the end result is already solid.

In Sun City, Arizona, the grumpy Lenny Savage (Philip Bosco) has dementia and lives with his mate Doris Metzger (Rosemary Murphy). His son Jon (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is a professor of drama in Buffalo that is writing a book about Bertold Brecht. His daughter Wendy (Laura Linney) is a thirty-nine year-old freelancer and aspirant writer of screenplays for theater that lives in New York and has an affair with the middle-aged married man Larry (Peter Friedman). Wendy and Jon are estranged from their abusive father but when Doris dies, the siblings travel to the funeral and are surprised by her family that informs that Lenny must leave the house. Wendy and Jon bring Lenny to Buffalo and leave him in a nursing home. Along the days, they visit their father and try to improve his life."The Savages" is a pointless, unpleasant and bitter drama of dementia, family responsibilities and end of life. The performance of the charming Laura Linney and the outstanding Philip Seymour Hoffman are top-notch but the subject of this film is not attractive and Philip Bosco performs a non-charismatic character and when he dies in the end, the viewer feels absolute indifference. My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "A Família Savage" ("The Savage Family")

This is one of those ostentatiously quiet films and how much you enjoy it will depend greatly on how much you appreciate the lovely and talented Laura Linney.The crux of the story involves Wendy and John Savage (Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman), two prematurely middle-aged siblings suddenly forced to care for their somewhat decrepit and dementia-ridden father (Philip Bosco) after years and years of separation and silence. The plot is really just an excuse, though, to put Wendy and John on display as examples of early 21st century pseudo-adulthood.Wendy is a 39 year old woman with a Masters degree in Fine Arts who still works as a temp, shuttling from one cubicle to another to pay the bills while she fancies her real destiny is to be a playwright. She doesn't like the fact that her situation doesn't reflect what she hopes her talent is, so she self-medicates and lies to others and herself about how her life is going. She's also having an affair with a married man, but she loves his dog far more than she cares about him.John is a 42 year old literature professor who teaches class at a small college in Buffalo and is trying to write a book on Bertolt Brecht. He's completely alienated from his own feelings and lives like he's isolated from the rest of the world. His girlfriend of several years is having to move back to Poland because her visa has expired. She wants to marry John but he refuses, telling Wendy it's because he's afraid she wouldn't be able to get a job in Buffalo. The one thing John does have is his belief that he's smarter than his sister and he doesn't react well when Wendy tells him she got a Guggenheim grant, something he's tried repeatedly to get and failed.The movie is almost entirely focused on how these two people handle this particular situation at this particular point in their lives. It never really goes into their past and how and why Wendy and John got to be the way they are. It never details the extent or nature of their poor relationship with their father. There's only an offhand reference to their mother, and we get only the smallest glimpse of how Wendy and John actually function in the world.The Savages is a comedy but not one that's trying to make anyone laugh that hard. It's almost Seinfeldian in its focus on the humor of the uncomfortable, the awkward and the embarrassing. There's not a lot of "ha ha" funny stuff in the film. It's more like real life where God has written a few more gags into the script than normal.Linney has the biggest role and the most fully realized character and if you enjoy watching her perform, The Savages is quite pleasant. Hoffman is good, but he doesn't have much to do and while the story of grown kids having to take care of their ailing father and reconnect with him has some emotional kick, it never gives you enough about them and their relationship to make you care that much. The film admirably resists being too pretentious, but slides into being too ordinary.Linney is very good, though, and if that sounds like enough for you, The Savages won't be disappointing.