The Squid and the Whale IMDb

After hearing some good buzz I finally got around to seeing Noah Baumbach's latest - "The Squid and the Whale." The film is about two boys dealing with their parents' divorce in Brooklyn back in the 80's.

The basic idea of the movie is about one of the kids, Walt (who is 16 I believe, played by Jesse Eisenberg), who takes everything his father says to heart, and the other kid, Frank (~10), who sides with his mother through everything. While there are certainly moments of comedy in this movie, it generally sticks more to providing moral lessons, like how it's alright to steal from your father's ideas (provided you use it right, i.e. calling The Metamorphosis "Kafkaesque" will make you look like an idiot), but stealing from Pink Floyd is... well, may not the best idea for a talent show.

I liked this movie a lot because both Jeff Daniels and Laura Linney play characters with Ph.D.'s in English so I could take note and either agree/disagree with their stance on some of the works they discuss. Well, plus they're both great actors and make the movie quite enjoyable.

So the movie is just over 80 minutes, which makes it a speedy watch, and the time flies by and it almost seems like it's over too quickly. The movie has its up and down moments, but overall is a pleasure to view.

Who should see this movie: Whoever can get their hands on a copy of it
Rating: 8/10