The Squid and the Whale (Movie Review)

Much like the last film I reviewed, I would not — under any circumstances — recommend The Squid and the Whale (2005) to my mother. I would, however, recommend it to friends. Though I'd offer the disclaimer (as I am now) that it, too, has the tendency to disturb.

Essentially, it's another semi-dark comedy about a dysfunctional family. This group consists of two parents (both of whom have PhDs in English lit) on the verge of a divorce, and their two sons (one a teenager with mild sociopathic tendencies; the other an 11 or 12-year old boy with a peculiar habit that helps beef up the film's "ew, gross" ante).

But I don't think what "Carl" does is necessarily out of character for a boy on the verge of his teenage years, coping with a significant increase in parental-induced stress. But knowing that didn't cause my nose to crinkle any less.

I actually found this younger son to be the more appealing of the two, though the thing that annoyed me most about his older brother, Walt — who relied heavily on his father's approval — was also fairly typical of an older teen in search of an identity. Apparently, Walt is modeled after writer/director Noah Baumbach himself, as this film catalogues his parent's divorce in the 1980s.

But Walt's alignment with his father — which compares to Carl's preference for their mother — also underscores much of the film's sentiment. The father, played by Jeff Daniels, dishes out terrible advice, recommending his son never commit to one women because "That didn't work with your mom" and, in a paraphrased nutshell, he missed out on a load of fun as a result. But Carl laps up this advice, and even develops a preference for unlikely physical pursuits, over a relationship with a girl who clearly cares for him. We realize the psychological trauma runs even deeper than that, however, as Carl attempts to engage in intellectual conversation about books he's heard his father discuss... but never read himself (though he claims otherwise).

But that's not to say Baumbuch demonizes either parent in this film. Rather, even as the viewing audience can see the parent's faults (the mother, played by Laura Linney, cheated on the father multiple times), it's difficult to blame either party for the marriage's collapse. Daniel's character was initially obsessed with work, and unattentive. He becomes jealous and bitter when his wife starts to succeed. Etc. But both appear to care deeply for their kids, even as they "overshare" the intimate details of their crumbled relationship.

Two things really annoyed me about this film: William Baldwin's hair was laughably distracting (a la Jake Gyllenhaal's moustache in Brokeback Mountain), and the special features on the DVD were a waste of time (avoid the mindless interview at all costs — I wouldn't say Baumbach is at fault for that disaster, however... the HBO bigshot asking the questions was awful).

So if you

1. Avoid the special features
2. Can get over Baldwin's annoying mane and
3. Won't let a couple "gross" scenes ruin a film for you

...then Squid is worth a shot.