Cheap Unstrung Heroes (DVD) (Andie MacDowell, John Turturro, Michael Richards, Maury Chaykin, Nathan Watt) (Diane Keaton) Price

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Customer Reviews of Unstrung Heroes

Forget the book...see the movie
Sometimes a film should be taken on its own merit and not compared to the book on which it was based. A film by nature creates a fixed reality not subject to the imagination of its viewers, so comparisons will always fall short. This film is full of quiet beauty and captures moments of honest, deep emotions, and, regardless of possible variances from the memoir by Franz (Steven) Lidz and Uncle Danny's unfortunate similarities to "Kramer" from "Seinfeld", it is heartbreaking, life-affirming, and satisfying film experience.

Diane Keaton's first feature length not-made-for-TV directorial debut is a poignant and often humorous story. Young Steven Lidz (Nathan Watt) is a normal boy growing up during the Cold War with his sister, mother, and his slightly quirky father. The father, Sid (John Turturro), is excitable about science and his visions of a techno-topian future, endlessly inventing household gadgets, but he's also a romantic and deeply loves his wife Selma (Andie MacDowell). Those future visions are blurred when Selma's health begins to wane. Unable to cope with the slow demise of his mother, Steven runs away to stay with an odd pair of uncles, who seem to be two extremes of his father. Uncle Danny (Michael Richards) is high-strung and sees anti-semitic conspiracies everywhere, while uncle Arthur (Maury Chaykin) is child-like and finds joy in the simplest of things (he collects lost balls in the park because he believes, if you listen closely as with seashells, you can hear the sound of the children who played with them). There's a hilarious scene where the landlord sees the three outside the building and begins to chase after them; they escape to the apartment as if their lives were being threatened by a raging grizzly bear.

The strange, inventive, and sometimes playful, behavior of Steven's uncles is distracting enough to keep him from brooding about his mother's last days. Instead of filling him with paranoia and neurosis, however, his uncles teach Steven about faith and family and the joys of life. Thomas Newman's ("American Beauty") music is perfectly suited to this bittersweet film. In fact, I bought the soundtrack CD after watching the film for the first time.

By the way...the reviews by "a viewer" from Evanston and "fred q. walrustitty" have absolutely nothing to do with the film, and it's likely the reviewers wrote them as a joke. Unfortunately, 11 out of 15 people believed them and found them helpful.

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Lovable Eccentrics Overdose on Flimsy Whimsy
I believe, having never read the book, that I can offer an unbiased opinion of this silly movie. Unstrung Heroes is packed with the kind of creepy-cozy sentiment that always spurs me to tune in to ESPN in fervent hopes of finding a good soccer brawl from Wales. An overbaked '60s memory movie about death and rampant crackpotism, infused with a subsidiary line of sugary pathos designed to squeeze from susceptible viewers a bucketful of crocodile tears. I can be as readily manipulated as the next person, but only in directions I want to go - and Light-Hearted Weepie has never been my favorite destination. Is there an honest moment in this film? I think not, which is why I intend to buy the book. I hear it's truly wonderful.

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A moving story .... albeit Hollywood style
After reading the other reviews, I would love to read the book because it sounds like a wonderful book. With that said, every film watcher must face the reality that books and films often have very little similarity if the book probes into the deep emotions of its characters. Therefore, this review will focus on what the film has to offer relative to other films of its kind.

First, the cast is magnificent and do an excellent job in the movie. Although Michael Richards has type-cast himself due to his strong personality in Seinfeld, he did an amazing job of portraying an equally quirky character. John Turturro is generally amazing in everything and although Andy McDowell is a bit mechanical in her acting, she showed a range in this movie that was well beyond what we're use to in her other pictures.

Second, the story itself, albeit altered from the book, had a very nice flow and for a two hour film, conflict and depth was developed. These things made the film not only watchable but also thought-provoking.

So, if you like thought-provoking movies and willing to accept that character depth is difficult to achieve in a movie, you might just like this one. The price ... is not incredibly steep but a viewing from a library copy might be just the thing to convince you this movie is worth buying.