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Additional fine performances are turned in by Brian Cox (Match Point, Red Eye) as the charismatic, power-obsessed Dr. Finch; Gwyneth Paltrow as Finch's brow-beaten daughter Hope; and Alec Baldwin as Augusten's emotionally absent father, Norman Burroughs.

On a par with the powerful acting in Running With Scissors is the extraordinarily keen way the performances are captured on film by director Ryan Murphy. He is a master of the close-up still shot. In his directorial hands, onscreen facial expressions and reactions give off an iconic, heightened intensity.

Nearly everyone is caught weeping real tears in Running With Scissors. In these shots, the faces of all the actors appear posed like classic Greek drama masks.

And the images linger. In particular, the stark and striking close-up visages of Bening's Deirdre and Clayburgh's Agnes — in which they reveal their characters' souls — will stay with audiences a long time.

The story of Running With Scissors is told in a style that presents much of its seriously troubling material in a screwball comedy kind of way. The underlying message is that when one is confronted with things that are so horrific as to be emotionally and physically unbearable, one way to survive is to take an absurdist route.

As he has done so cleverly in Nip/Tuck, Ryan Murphy uses black comedy to heighten the feeling of the dark subtexts and to make the dialogue and characters stand out in a special way. Augusten actually plays straight man to all the other zany characters in the film. In nearly every scene, the audience sees and understands all their dysfunctions through his more level-headed perceptions.

This ironic comedy technique succeeds to a certain extent in Running With Scissors. It's fun at the film's beginning to draw the audience in, and it's loaded with plenty of au courant, postmodern attitude. But during the film's middle it tends to become overbearing. One gets the feeling that all is being done for a laugh, and that plot elements are being introduced for the sake of absurdity, as in a David Lynch film.

Fortunately, Running With Scissors regains its focus and finds an astounding level of clarity and seriousness as it comes to a close. All its characters shed their comedic facades as their true, tragic natures are revealed in the film's gently paced, hauntingly beautifully finish.

As a “gay” film, Running With Scissors seems oddly ambivalent. It will no doubt become a favorite with gay audiences, especially for its strong cast and writing. And yes, as Augusten finds himself in an abusive life situation, surrounded by mental and emotional misfits, his gayness provides him with just enough aloofness and alienation to see him through. His gay identity offers special protection against Dr. Finch's overbearing patriarchy that so strongly affects all the other characters.

But the film's story line and dialogue do not exhibit much of an obvious gay sensibility. At certain points in the film the two main gay characters say, “I'm gay,” but that's about it. Likewise, its several lesbian plot devices and characters seem unconvincing.

And regarding Burroughs' physical relationship with Bookman: On the one hand, it can be argued that Burroughs was sexually molested for several years, from the age of 13, by a man who was 20 years his senior. One the other hand, the writer himself maintains that the relationship between him and his molester was consensual. That is a conceit that many may find difficult to accept.

In the end, Running With Scissors proves that doing so can be very a tricky thing. And it isn't one this movie entirely pulls off.

Running with Scissors opens in limited release on
October 20 and nationwide on October 27.

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