Full Review

Vain, pseudointellectual, cheapskate writer and academic Bernard Berkman (a bearded, graying Jeff Daniels) is in a career slump, trying to get his next book published. His wife, Joan (a redheaded Laura Linney), is beginning to get attention as a writer herself, which Bernard resents.

The marriage is on the rocks, and matters come to a head when he spots her on the street with another man. Soon after, Joan announces she is leaving Bernard. And before long, she takes up with the family's tennis instructor, Ivan (William Baldwin). Eventually, it comes out that she had had other affairs as well. Bernard had two previous marriages, one annulled, one divorced.

Their two children, 16-year-old Walt (Jesse Eisenberg) and 12-year-old Frank (Owen Kline), are distraught, and begin a routine of shuttling between the two households. The older boy is totally enamored of his father and disdainful of his mother, spouting the father's platitudes and judgments about literature he's never read. Frank is more attached to the mother.

Eventually, Bernard lets one of his college students, Lili (Anna Paquin), rent a room in his house, resulting in a virtual menage-a-trois environment with Walt, who though smitten with Lili, indulges in some sexual experimentation with his "real" girlfriend, Sophie.

The actors are above reproach. Daniels, in particular, gives a gem of a character performance, and it's a pleasure to see him capture Bernard's pretentious, self-deluding ways. Also outstanding is Eisenberg, whose surface bravado matches inner confusion and vulnerability. Emotionally troubled, he tries to pass off a Pink Floyd song as his own composition in a school concert. (The title, by the way, refers to an exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History which significantly figures in Walt's repressed childhood memory.)

Writer-director Noah Baumbach does well on both counts with this apparently semiautobiographical material, and both the direction and script were honored at the Sundance Film Festival. For all its unpleasantness, the film is a cautionary tale about an overly permissive upbringing and the fallout of divorce. It is also mordantly funny, and poignant in its sad truths.

But be warned: the amoral behavior of the narcissistic, literary parents (though shown to have negative consequences) and the relentless barrage of expletives and open discussions of sexual matters -- though realistic for some -- will turn off many viewers. (The boys are barely reprimanded.)

The film contains excessive profanity, rough and crude language, frank sexual talk and situations including two episodes of childhood/prepubescent masturbation, brief partial nudity, underage drinking and condom use, permissive parental behavior, and adultery. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. The Motion Picture Association of America is R -- restricted.

These movies have been evaluated for artistic merit and moral suitability by the media reviewing division of Catholic News Service. The reviews include the CNS rating, the Motion Picture Association of America rating, and a brief synopsis of the movie.

The classifications are as follows:

A-I -- general patronage;
A-II -- adults and adolescents;
A-III -- adults;
L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. L replaces the previous classification, A-IV.
O -- morally offensive.

Note: Some movies previously were designated A-IV. Older films with this classification should be regarded as classified L.