The Squid and the Whale Reviews

Since I kept hearing some good things about this flick, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, eventually, it turned out to be one of those typical quirky indie movies dealing with a dysfunctional family. To be honest, at first, it took me a while to get into this story as  none of the characters involved were actually likeable. Indeed, the 2 boys were pretty messed up, probably even before their parents divorced, and the parents were even worse, as they were really self-absorbed, egoistical and arrogant. Still, thanks to the directing and the actors involved, it was still pretty good. There was a terrific cast (Jeff Daniels, Laura Linney, Jesse Eisenberg, William Baldwin, Anna Paquin) and they all delivered some good performances, especially Jeff Daniels. Indeed, he is easily one of the most underrated actors at work nowadays. If you compare his performance in this movie, with his performances in 'Dumb & Dumber', 'State of play', 'The Purple rose of Cairo', you have here a very talented actor showing some impressive range. Anyway, to conclude, even though it was nothing mind-blowing in my opinion, it remains a well made and interesting drama and it is definitely worth a look.