The Savages: Savagely Good

The Savages—a tale of middle-aged siblings forced to put their lives on hold to take care of their elderly father—is earning nearly unanimous praise for its deft mix of dark humor and brutal honesty. "There isn’t a single moment of emotional guff or sentimentality in The Savages," writes Manohla Dargis in the New York TImes.

"The Savages is bruisingly funny in the damnedest places, the way life is," writes Lisa Schwarzbaum in Entertainment Weekly. "Yes, it's okay to laugh."  Co-stars Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman earn lavish praise, as does director Tamara Jenkins. "With the help of acting giants, Jenkins turns The Savages into a twisted, bittersweet pleasure," writes Peter Travers in Rolling Stone. (More Philip Seymour Hoffman stories.)