The Squid and the Whale (DVD)

I have heard nothing but good things when it comes to The Squid and the Whale. I even heard some people call it the best movie of 2005! So who would I be not to check it out? Actually, I felt a bit like an idiot that I had not yet seen it. Like I was running a movie site and had somehow managed to miss this little gem. Well, guess what? I wish I had stayed in the dark.

The Squid and the Whale has nothing enjoyable about it. This is an excursion into a demented little family where you would have to be a fucked up psychiatrist to find any enjoyment in dissecting it. The hidden meanings of the demented psyche are most prevalent in this film and any $300 an hour shrink would be more than happy to dig into the domes of these messed up souls.

Jeff Daniels stars as poppa Bernard Berkman with Laura Linney cast as his wife Joan. However, this immediately doomed, relationship is soon slammed against the rocks and stuck in the middle are the little ones, Walt and Frank (Jesse Eisenberg and Owen Kline). Bernard and Joan are supposed to be a couple of intelligent beings, Bernard has had success as an author and Joan is about to have her first book published, so how is it that they come to the decision that alternating days of custody is a good idea? Well, your guess is as good as mine.

So what we end up with is a convoluted triangle with Bernard cast as the egotistic father, Joan as the cheating wife with a good heart, Walt as the son that considers his father's word gold and Frank as the son that is suffering the most as he decides to begin jacking off in school and spreading his seed wherever he deems necessary such as the library or a young girl's locker just after he kisses it. I am not joking about this by the way. Do you find even the thought of that "Best Film of 2005" worthy? Yeah, me neither.

As for this DVD, well the special features are about as shitty as the film. You get a regurgitated HBO special with director Noah Baumbach and writer Phillip Lopate, a self-congratulatory "collectible" insert, a mini behind the scenes featurette and one of the worst commentaries ever.

Noah Baumbach, instead of a traditional commentary, decides he doesn't want to talk over the film. Instead he is going to offer up his commentary as piece meal over the top of stills from the film. Okay, Noah, we do want to hear your opinion on certain things, it is interesting, but people talk over the film so that it gives their eyes something to do while listening to you. We aren't asking you to necessarily talk about what is on the screen at any particular moment, there are plenty of commentaries that go off topic, but we don't want to listen to you babble over pictures. That, my friend, is boring.

So, in conclusion, if you have a desire to be thrust into a world where no happiness exists then by all means check this one out. I, on the other hand, will never watch it again.