Quick Movie Review: The Squid and the Whale

I'm not exactly always on top of the movie world, so I just recently saw Noah Baumbach's "The Squid and the Whale." That said, I believe it's time to revive Erik's "Quick-review" format. My thoughts:

1.) Any movie that uses Lou Reed's "Street Hassle" is alright by me.

2.) I love the fact that Baumbach had the guts to keep his movie at a slim 81 minutes. It was the perfect length - you cared about the characters, you were involved in the story, and when it ended, it felt right, and you hadn't been thinking it was going to end for the previous hour. I wish more movie directors would realize that "artistic" and "wonderful" doesn't necessarily have to mean "lengthy" too.

3.) I've never been through a divorce, and I've never witnessed one in my family personally, yet I suspect Baumbach hit it dead on. Divorces are usually messy and difficult, especially when kids are involved, and I think he hit that dead on. Doubtless his own experiences in childhood helped in this, but I think I saw one of the most succinct statements on divorce and how detailed and difficult it can be when Jeff Daniels says to Ivan (William Baldwin), the tennis coach, that his wife pays - "She's tennis lessons and winter coats, I'm swimming lessons and sneakers."

4.) Finally, and briefly, it was criminal that Daniels was overlooked for an Oscar nomination. I know the Oscars haven't exactly been "legitimate" in many people's eyes since the early 80s (particularly with the triumph of "Ordinary People" over "Raging Bull"), but it was just sinister. He's definitely put in one of the finest acting jobs I've seen from any movie in the last 10 years. Kudos to you, Jeff. We knew you had more in you than Dumb and Dumber let on.