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Diminished Capacity

EMAILPRINTIFC Films

Diminished Capacity reviews
54
6.5 User Score:

Mixed or average reviews

Based on 13 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 2 votes
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Movie Info

Genre(s): Comedy

Written by: Sherwood Kiraly
Doug Bost (additional written material)

Directed by: Terry Kinney

Release Date:
Theatrical: July 4, 2008

Running Time: 92 minutes, Color

Origin: USA

Summary

RATING: Not Rated

Starring Matthew Broderick, Alan Alda, Virginia Madsen, Dylan Baker, Louis C.K., and Bobby Cannavale

Director Terry Kinney's delightfully poignant and bittersweet comedy poses the question: How much is a good memory worth? That's the question that faces newspaper editor Cooper after a debilitating concussion takes him from the political pages to comic strip detail. Looking for answers, he travels home to Missouri where his now-senile Uncle Rollie is on the verge of losing his home. When a valuable baseball card is thrown into the mix, these two men, along with a motley group of hometown friends, including Cooper's high school sweetheart, Charlotte, head to a memorabilia expo to make the deal of a century, diving headfirst into a snake pit of slick salesmen, crooked dealers, and rabid fans revealing that there are some things in life you can't put a price on. (IFC Films)

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

83

Entertainment Weekly Leah Greenblatt

The result is fairly silly slapstick, but Alda, hair disheveled and brow knit with stubborn intent, is both fierce and quietly heartbreaking.

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75

New York Post Kyle Smith

The smart indie comedy Diminished Capacity deals with three kinds of dementia: those relating to aging, concussions and being a Chicago Cubs fan. Tying those three things together is a task that the witty script does with surprising adroitness.

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70

Los Angeles Times Jan Stuart

All of the actors convey the ebullience of old friends convening for an on-the-cheap reunion. The shared good spirits result in a diminutive comedy with a bounty of charm and shrewd humor.

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63

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

A risky, not entirely successful comedy about mental disability, based on the novel by Sherwood Kiraly.

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63

USA Today Claudia Puig

A road movie that never really takes off.

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50

The New York Times Manohla Dargis

Touches earnestly on heart-heavy issues of loss: loss of memory, of love and, perhaps because of the local angle, of (or rather by) the Chicago Cubs. But Mr. Kinney, a founder of the Steppenwolf Theater Company in Chicago and a familiar face from film and television, never gives his movie a sustained pulse.

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50

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

When a respected actor moves into the director's chair, he can usually draw a pretty good cast, which is certainly the case here... But Sherwood Kiraly's slight script only makes this embarrassment of riches seem more embarrassing.

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50

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

A mild pleasure from one end to the other, but not much more. Maybe that's enough, serving as a reminder that movie comedies still can be about ordinary people and do not necessarily have to feature vulgarity as their centerpiece.

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50

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

Alda actually is kind of interesting as the mentally unstable uncle, but Broderick appears to be sleepwalking. Madsen has little to do, and everyone else plays things far too broadly.

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50

Variety John Anderson

A God's little acre's worth of premeditated eccentricity runs through Diminished Capacity, a triumphant losers-in-Cornville comedy starring Matthew Broderick in a role he might have phoned in, and Alan Alda as a combination Jed Clampett and Raymond Babbitt.

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50

Village Voice Nick Pinkerton

It's the kind of lite movie you go and see with your mom, and she'll say she liked it--but then a year later, you're both trying to remember what it was even about. Two and a half shrugs.

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50

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

Striving for low-key character comedy, Diminished Capacity ends up diminishing its returns.

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50

The Onion (A.V. Club) Noel Murray

Broderick, Alda, and Madsen are all fine--and Alda has some poignant moments as he realizes the implications of his forgetfulness--but their presence in a movie like this reaffirms its conventionality.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 6.5 (out of 10) based on 2 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

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