Squid and the Whale, The MPAA Rating: R Entertainment: +1 Content: -3

This comedic drama looks at the unraveling lives of the Berkmans, a dysfunctional family living in Brooklyn in 1986. Bernard (Jeff Daniels) is a washed-up, middle-aged writer getting a divorce from Joan (Laura Linney), whose career is beginning to blossom. While their two boys, Walt (Jesse Eisenberg), 16, and Frank (Owen Kline), 12, are struggling with the difficulties of adolescence, Joan has an affair with Franks tennis coach and Bernard sleeps with a college girl that Walt is making a play for. With their parents divorce under way, the boys are shuffled back and forth between the self-centered, squabbling adults. As a result of poor parental role models, the boys must learn lifes lessons alone and find themselves in compromising situations, both academically and relationally. In trying to escape the painful realities of life, they transport themselves back to the days when life was simpler and happier.Heres a snapshot of two adults, who care more about themselves than those around them, and the ugly results that transpire. Each parent lacks the ability to communicate love to the other and does not consider the consequences of his and her bad behavior. The extremely competitive Bernard, while playing tennis with the family, hits the ball directly at his wife trying to hit her so that he can win. While beating his son at ping-pong, he gloats. After the separation, he wants the boys to stay with him only so he wont be lonely. A frank and often sexually graphic look at this familys failure makes this film difficult to watch. The consequences of bad behavior are clearly illustrated, demonstrating how a family should not act. Extreme bad language and sexually explicit content earn this one a no go from Preview.

Preview Reviewer: Alan Boyer
Distributor: Independent Distribution/Samuel Goldwyn Films