Based on the memoir by gay author Augusten Burroughs and directed by openly gay Ryan Murphy (Nip/Tuck), the new film Running With Scissors tackles Burroughs' unusual upbringing in western Massachusetts during the 1970s.

As the film opens, we meet 6-year-old Augusten Burroughs (played by Jack Kaeding). He is, unfortunately, the child of an alcoholic father (Alec Baldwin) and a manic-depressive mother (Annette Bening) who dislike each other intensely, as evidenced by their constant fighting.

Augusten's budding homosexual nature is evident even at this early age. He and his mother are exceptionally close to each other, and he comforts her throughout her many personal and marital problems. As so many gay kids do, he displays a precocious interest in art, poetry, writing and even clothes and hair design.

As his parents' marriage deteriorates into an ugly divorce, life takes a most unfair turn for the adolescent Augusten (played by Joseph Cross). His mother has him legally adopted by her psychiatrist, the dangerously eccentric Dr. Finch (Brian Cox).

Augusten becomes a virtual prisoner of Dr. Finch and his family, where he suffers all manner of cruel abuses. The creepy Finches come off like a cross between a dysfunctional Brady Bunch and an over-medicated Addams Family. Dr. Finch lords over his traumatized brood like a megalomaniacal Sigmund Freud.

Somehow Augusten manages to maintain his sanity throughout his stay in the Finches' insane asylum-like household. Seemingly against all odds, he survives and ultimately escapes to New York City, where he will grow up to write the successful book that is Running With Scissors.

By far the best parts of Running With Scissors are the fine performances turned in by its extraordinary cast. There is not a weak link in the acting chain.

Annette Bening (Being Julia, American Beauty) displays phenomenal range as Burroughs' mentally deteriorating, artistically confused mother, Deirdre. She is a woman hopelessly struggling to find her liberated, feminine self in the pathetically muddled “me generation” of the 1970s. Clearly a victim of Dr. Finch's medical malpractice, her life devolves into delusions of grandeur and unsatisfying lesbian relationships.

Jill Clayburgh (Nip/Tuck, An Unmarried Woman, Starting Over plays Agnes, the Finch family's ghostly, secretive matriarch. With few scenes and little dialogue, Clayburgh nonetheless creates an unforgettably haunting character — one of the finest performances of her career.

Joseph Cross (Strangers with Candy) plays the adolescent Augusten with winning appeal and open-hearted sincerity. He especially captures that wondrous innocence and intensity that is unique to the love that many gay sons feel for their mothers. Even though Augusten is abandoned by his mother, his continued longing for her, so convincingly portrayed by Cross, is one of the most poignant aspects of the film.

Evan Rachel Wood (Thirteen, Once and Again) plays Natalie, the troubled teenage daughter of Dr. Finch, who befriends Augusten. Wood's emotionally volatile take on a typical 1970s-era, messed-up, wayward teen is right on the mark.

Joseph Fiennes (Shakespeare in Love) plays Neil Bookman — pedophile, chicken hawk or confused, lonely gay man, depending on which way one sees him. A patient of Dr. Finch and member of the Finches' extended family, the 30-something Bookman lives in a shed in their backyard. Bookman provides the consenting teenage Augusten with his first gay sexual experience.

The role of Bookman is problematic and incomplete, with the result that many straight reviews have simply labeled the character a child molester. But pathetic as Bookman is, Fiennes brings an innocent charm and ruggedly handsome persona to the role that makes him a complicated character.

In the film, Bookman's emotional problems seem more due to his being a patient of the mad Dr. Finch than it does to any inner psychopathology. For a while, Bookman and Augusten even appear to develop a straightforward gay relationship, despite their age difference.