Diminished Capacity (2008)

User Rating:

5.8/10   

Director:

Terry Kinney

Writers:

Doug Bost (additional written material)
Sherwood Kiraly (writer)

Release Date:

4 July 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

Sometimes what you lose is not as important as what you find.

Plot:

A Chicago journalist suffering from memory loss takes leaves from his job and returns to his rural hometown, where he bonds with his Alzheimer's-impaired uncle Rollie and his old flame.

Plot Keywords:

Memory | Memory Loss | Journalist | Baseball Card | Old Flame

Cast

Matthew Broderick	...	Cooper
Alan Alda	...	Uncle Rollie
Virginia Madsen	...	Charlotte
Dylan Baker	...	Mad Dog McClure
Bobby Cannavale	...	Lee Vivyan
Louis C.K.	...	Stan
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Tom Aldredge	...	Wendell Kendall
Carolyn Baeumler	...	Diane McClure
Jimmy Bennett	...	Dillon
P.J. Brown	...	Reese
David Corbett	...	Chicago cubs security 3
Bhavna de Montebello	...	Dr. Gupta (as Bhavana Kundanmal)
Brad Haugen	...	Chicago cubs security 1
Joseph Kwasny	...	Chicago cubs security 2
Mary Jo Mandula	...	Tribune employee 1
Gentry Miller	...	Tribune Security Guard
Paul Mixon	...	Tribune employee 2
Anthony Del Negro	...	Baseball Patron
Heidi Neurauter	...	Irene Sasso
Zsofia Otvos	...	Riverwalk girl 1
David Martin Rose	...	Frank 'Wildfire' Schulte
Evan Shafran	...	Baseball Card Collector
Lois Smith	...	Belle Tyke
Karla Strum	...	Riverwalk girl 2
Jim True-Frost	...	Donny Prine

Runtime:

USA:92 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Singapore:NC-16 | Australia:M | USA:Not Rated

Filming Locations:

Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Plum Pictures

Trivia:

The part of Wildfire is played by David Martin Rose. On his first day working as an intern for the sound department, David was approached by director Terry Kinney, and was asked to read for the part.

Quotes:

Uncle Rollie: Time is the guest of the north.

Surprisingly engaging

This film is about a journalist with post concussion syndrome and his demented uncle on road trip to sell a precious baseball card.

"Diminished Capacity" is surprisingly engaging. The plot is well written, even tiny details are attended to. It has that special charm to engage viewers. The characters are all likable and authentic, and I really care about them. Alan Alda is amazingly convincing as a demented person. Little by little, his dementia is portrayed beautifully, from the burnt bacon to misplacing the card. One annoyingly implausible thing though, is why would no one help in the fight at the end. That dampens the credibility of the plot, but on the whole it is well written and executed.