2548 - SAVAGES

I saw the movie and enjoyed it, too. I was interested in the movie mainly because it deals with a topic I have had to deal with; namely, whether, and how, to take care of an elderly parent who was lousy and abusive to you when you were growing up. I'm glad someone has taken this subject on...

I sort-of disagree with Valkyrie about the way the brother and sister were portrayed. I DO actually think they were presented as immature people who never grew up. Actually, every single review of the movie that I read also alluded to this notion. Yeah, they both had their idiosynchrasies, and yeah, neither had ever married/had kids, and they were well into entering middle age and didn't have great relationship track records, either. But do those things automatically mean they "never really grew up"? Would the converse of that be true? If you did marry and have kids, would that guarantee that you DID indeed grow up? I hate that kind of logic. It so rubs me the wrong way. I guess I have not "grown up" either.

I still think it's a good movie and worth seeing if you're CF, even if only, as Valkyrie points out, because there are no kids featured, or even mentioned, in it!

"I sort-of disagree with Valkyrie about the way the brother and sister were portrayed. I DO actually think they were presented as immature people who never grew up. Actually, every single review of the movie that I read also alluded to this notion. Yeah, they both had their idiosynchrasies, and yeah, neither had ever married/had kids, and they were well into entering middle age and didn't have great relationship track records, either. But do those things automatically mean they "never really grew up"? Would the converse of that be true? If you did marry and have kids, would that guarantee that you DID indeed grow up? I hate that kind of logic. It so rubs me the wrong way. I guess I have not "grown up" either."

Haven't seen the movie, though it looks good. I love Phillip Hoffman, he's a joy to watch.

I always bristle at the "why don't you do X and grow up" argument that people throw about when you aren't following whatever LifeScript (tm) they've got in their heads. I mean, seriously...what about (not) dealing with the results of unprotected sex means you're now a grown up? How does buying a thing you can't afford, like a house or new car, make you a magical "adult"? How many married folks act like grown ups with each other, or their spawn?

To me, being a grown up means that you take responsibility for yourself (and any beings in your care) and that you aren't expecting the rest of the world to take care of you any more. Yet, with the debt rates, mortgage "crisis" and breeders being "best friends" with their children, I see no hint that any of these people have moved into being a Grown Up in any sense of the word, even though they are participating in "grown up" activites. They've spent themselves into a hole they can't get out of on their own, want (but not really) every one else to raise their children so they're not the bad guys, and still expect to live the life they led in their 20's well into their 50's. Nothing in there says "I'm All Grown Up Now" to me.

"It truly is the one commonality that every designation of humans you can think of has, there's at least one asshole."
--Me