"Prickly humor, strong writing, excellent direction and magnificent acting... The Savages is note perfect."

--Patrick Z. McGavin, Screen International

"Laura Linney, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Philip Bosco give award-caliber performances in this funny, touching and vital film."

--Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

"Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney are pitch-perfect--and darkly hilarious."

--Lou Lumenick, New York Post

The last thing the two Savage siblings ever wanted to do was look back at their difficult family history. Having wriggled their way out from beneath their father's domineering thumb, they are now firmly cocooned in their own complicated lives. Wendy (Academy Award nominee Laura Linney) is a struggling EastVillage playwright, aka a temp who spends her days applying for grants, stealing office supplies, and dating her very married neighbor. Jon(Academy Award winner Philip Seymour Hoffman) is a neurotic college professor writing books on obscure subjects in Buffalo.Then comes the call that informs them that the father they have long feared and avoided, Lenny Savage (Tony Award winner Philip Bosco), is slowly being consumed by dementia and they are the only ones that can help.

Now, as they put their already arrested lives on hold, Wendy and Jon are forced to live together under one roof for the first time since childhood, rediscovering the eccentricities that drove each other crazy. Faced with complete upheaval and battling over how to handle their father's final days, they are confronted with what adulthood, family, and, most surprisingly, each other are really about.

Introduction by Tamara Jenkins

The Shooting Script

Stills

Cast and Crew Credits

About the Director/Screenwriter