Welcome to the Midwest Film Forum!

[Mike_McNamara]

Pretty easy decision for us to show this one. Well-crafted comedy with superb acting performances, with numerous Chicago and Midwest elements. Beyond the obvious ones (Terry Kinney, Steppenwolf Films, partly shot in Chicago), screenwriter Sherwood Kiraly is a native Chicagoan as is lead actress Virginia Madsen and the cast is loaded with Steppenwolf Theatre Company ensemble members.

What did you think of "Diminished Capacity?" What worked for you? What was your favorite scene? Any scenes NOT work for you?

Sound off here!

Mac

[gmgxu72]

I have to admit to having a huge bias here as Sherwood Kiraly (the writer) has been one of my best friends for 35 years, but even with that, I really enjoyed the movie. Alda and Broderick both showed both their serious and comedic sides, and Virgina Madsen was feistier than other roles I've seen her in.

My friend, who doesn't know Sherwood's work but is a BIG movie fan, called it "flawless", which is high praise, indeed.

Last night was my first time at a MFF's First Tuesday screening, but it won't be my last. I enjoyed myself thoroughly. Thanks!

[roxyrosy]

What a good-looking film for...didn't it have only a $2 mil budget?

LIKES: Great sense of place for Chicago & the midwest. Loved the rich visual detail in the old house & card convention scenes. Loved the values represented, the sense of family, the forgiveness of people who aren't perfect & are getting less perfect all the time. All of the main characters seemed believable in their roles. Bravo also to the original music.

QUIBBLES: The Alan Alda character was too huggy. Old midwestern guys don't hug their nephews, or if they do, they act embarrassed about it. I winced at the rural stereotyping of the old man in the trailer shooting someone coming on the property - couldn't he just have thrown a tomato?

THINGS I WOULD LIKED TO HAVE SEEN (which probably weren't in the budget): (1) More than a glimpse of the main character's cartoons, and having him draw something pertinent to what was going on in the rest of the story. (2) The main character's mother seemed like an interesting person but disappeared for most of the story. (3) The boy didn't have enough lines to seem real. He was more of a prop. (4) A glimpse of the inside of a nursing home would have brought home to the audience what the Alan Alda character hoped to avoid - the people staring off into space, no one talking.

[sabline]

I enjoyed the film a LOT. It touched on things that some seem to forget about. The main characters rekindling their high school romance, the uncle not totally understanding what is happening to him and the scenario in the workplace. At some point we will all have to face a situation where a family member will fall prey to a type of mental situation, this is just one view of how a family copped with the situation. It told a good story.

Chicagoans could embrace the Cubs-Cardinal factor of the film as well. That was a fun feature of the film.
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SubrosaGVD

[Whit Spurgeon]

This was a very enjoyable movie -- I'm not quite sure why it worked as well as it did, but it succeeded on many levels, including having you root for the characters. Alda is great, Broderick is (almost always) great, and Madsen is really terrific as a believably attractive middle-aged former girlfriend (as opposed to Hollywood attractive, which always bothers me -- Madsen strikes me here as a real, attractive woman and not some Hollywood ideal of what a pretty woman her age SHOULD be).

I wonder what the odds are on whether Steppenwolf Films will cast more roles out of Chicago for future films that shoot here -- there's a real treasure-trove of unused and new and exciting talent here that can't get a sizable role in a film because all the bigger roles are cast out of New York and LA -- hell, I'm having to move to LA for exactly that reason! But I'd gladly move back if productions started doing more of their principal casting here......

whit spurgeon

[LastBlog]

The title of "Diminished Capacity" seemed a perfect description for the context of this film. It seemed too shallow in characterization to make the situations believable.

Although I have enjoyed the work of Broderick, Alda, Madsen, etc., I felt in this film they all had difficulty with the direction of their characters. Alda's old coot had the indecisive air of fitting in with the convenient situations based in the screenplay. He would react rationally whenever the story wanted him to react (as in the scheme to get the card back) or shut him off when the drama called for it (when he first sold the card to the evil vendor).

The inconsistencies were distracting, and the portrayal was so grizzled it wouldn't have surprised me if Alda would have started dancing and shouting "gold" like an old prospector.

Broderick's "injury," especially in association with the annoying C.K. Louis character, never allowed any insight into his motivations. The use of the notebook, so easily discarded later, was more of a diverting eccentricity than a useful device.

The pacing of the story was slow and the "Treasure of Sierra Madre"-like teasing with the baseball card got old quickly. If I were purchasing such a card and witnessed such a scene, I would snatch it from Alda's hand and run like a thief.

And finally, when will the image of the "long suffering Cub fans" be finally banished? Hell, Major League Baseball should just roll over and give them the championship so we won't have to suffer through that fan image ever again. Isn't it enough already to be the most beloved team in baseball, with smokin' profits for the owners and silicone babes in the stands? It's almost like cheering for the most popular kids in high school to win top honors as well. Don't they have enough?

The less said about the contrivance of fish poetry the better. This was a film that tried hard to stand in the batter's box, but can't help swinging at pitches outside the strike zone.

Rating *1/2 stars

Pat McDonald is a Chicago based film critic and writer. Read his reviews and articles at...

http://www.hollywoodchicago.com/
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