Diminished Capacity (2008)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

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
Harry L. Seddon	...	Card Buyer (uncredited)

Directed by
Terry Kinney

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Doug Bost		additional written material
Sherwood Kiraly		writer

Produced by
John Allen	....	executive producer
Carina Alves	....	associate producer
Bill Benenson	....	executive producer
Tim Evans	....	producer
John Gilroy	....	co-producer
Joy Goodwin	....	co-producer
Marilyn Haft	....	co-producer
Scott Hanson	....	executive producer
Ed Hart	....	executive producer
Pamela Hirsch	....	executive producer
Sophia Lin	....	line producer
Bruce Lunsford	....	executive producer
Riva Marker	....	associate producer
Galt Niederhoffer	....	producer
Celine Rattray	....	producer
Katrin Redfern	....	associate producer
Daniela Taplin Lundberg	....	producer

Original Music by
Robert Burger

Cinematography by
Vanja Cernjul

Film Editing by
Tim Streeto

Art Direction by
Matthew Munn

Set Decoration by
Cherish Magennis

Costume Design by
Sarah J. Holden

Makeup Department
Bert Reo Anderson	....	key hair stylist
Dallas Hartnett	....	hair stylist department head
Georgia Jacobs	....	assistant makeup artist
Zsofia Otvos	....	key makeup artist

Production Management
Maggie Engelhardt	....	production supervisor
Carrie Holt de Lama	....	unit production manager: Chicago
Sophia Lin	....	unit production manager
Riva Marker	....	post-production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Forrest L. Futrell	....	assistant director
Jennifer Loeb	....	second assistant director
Marco Londoner	....	first assistant director
Salvatore E. Sutera	....	second second assistant director
Alfonso Trinidad	....	key second assistant director

Art Department
Lou Charles	....	additional on-set dresser
Rashad Clinton	....	props
Kaem Coughlin	....	scenic artist
Emily Gaunt	....	charge scenic artist
Duncan Johnson	....	art department production assistant
John Peter Melendez	....	leadman
Jose Pavon	....	property master
Michael Powsner	....	assistant property master

Sound Department
Shaun Brennan	....	foley artist
David Briggs	....	supervising sound editor
Michael Capulli	....	boom operator: Chicago
Rachel Chancey	....	foley engineer
Rusty Dunn	....	sound effects editor
Christopher Fondulas	....	boom operator
Suzanne Goldish	....	adr recordist
Lewis Goldstein	....	sound re-recording mixer
Lewis Goldstein	....	supervising sound editor
Matthew Haasch	....	foley editor
Allen Lau	....	assistant sound editor
Nathan Lindsey	....	sound intern
Bryant Musgrove	....	additional boom operator
Chris Navarro	....	adr mixer
Griffin Richardson	....	sound mixer
David Martin Rose	....	sound intern
Michael Suarez	....	adr recordist
Bartek Swiatek	....	sound mixer: Chicago

Visual Effects by
John Bair	....	titles and visual effects designer
Brian Haimes	....	digital compositor

Stunts
Damian Achilles	....	stunts
Manny Siverio	....	stunt coordinator
Bobby Stuart	....	utility stunts
Anthony Vincent	....	stunts

Camera and Electrical Department
Cesar Baptista	....	grip
Peter Biagi	....	unit cinematographer
Jason H. Bonner	....	second assistant camera
Vincent Camuto	....	video assist operator: stunts
Chris Dame	....	first assistant camera
Jeffrey Dutemple	....	first assistant camera
Ludovic Littee	....	camera operator
Jeremy Long	....	best boy
Jessica Miglio	....	still photographer
Keith Pokorski	....	first assistant camera
Christopher Rejano	....	gaffer
Guillaume Renberg	....	remote head technician
Joel Tishcoff	....	gaffer
Justin Whitacre	....	film loader
Daniel Wiener	....	second assistant camera
Craig Paul Harris	....	electrician (uncredited)
Derek J. Manganelli	....	additional second assistant camera (uncredited)

Casting Department
Karen E. Etcoff	....	extras casting

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Jessica Chaney	....	wardrobe supervisor
Jackie S. Freeman	....	additional set costumer
Angela Mirabella	....	key costumer
Mallory Sabian	....	costume assistant
Karla Strum	....	key costumer

Editorial Department
Jason Barnes	....	assistant editor
Anthony Brandonisio	....	post-production coordinator
John Crowley	....	colorist
James W. Harrison III	....	assistant editor
Antonia Law	....	assistant editor
Ken Rubenfeld	....	colorist

Music Department
Tracy McKnight	....	music supervisor
T. Colby Trane	....	music coordinator

Other crew
Matt Anderson	....	production assistant
Lauren Benn	....	production assistant
Justin Bischoff	....	production assistant
Paul Bischot	....	accounting clerk
Steve Boyle	....	post-production accounting manager
Anthony Brandonisio	....	additional production assistant
Jeffrey A. Brown	....	location manager
Rachael Cohen	....	production assistant
Seth Copans	....	script supervisor
Robin D'Oench	....	production assistant
Adam Donnelly	....	production secretary
Nicholas Fabiano	....	production assistant
Cate Hahneman	....	assistant to director
Brad Jasper	....	production assistant
Brad Jasper	....	script coordinator
Samantha Kreitzer	....	production coordinator
Justin Kron	....	assistant location manager
Michael B. Lewis	....	production assistant
Megan Lombardo	....	location scout
Karly Meola	....	assistant: v. madsen
Ali Moussavi	....	production assistant
Jessica Poter	....	production assistant
Kevin R. Shields	....	production assistant
R. Zachary Shildwachter	....	key production assistant
Marc H. Simon	....	legal counsel: Dreier LLP
Adam M. Stone	....	product placement
Cat Stone	....	product placement
Alyssa Taylor	....	location production assistant
Adam VanWagner	....	assistant production office coordinator
Chad Welch	....	production assistant: first team
Josh Wolff	....	production assistant

Production Companies

• Plum Pictures
• Hanson Allen Films
• Hart-Lunsford Pictures
• Steppenwolf Films
• Benedek Films

Distributors

• Empire (2008) (Romania) (all media)
• IFC Films (2008) (USA) (theatrical)
• David Distribucion (2008) (Mexico) (all media)
• IFC First Take (2008) (USA) (video)

Other Companies

• All-Star Animals  animal handlers
• David Haddad  transportation equipment
• Haddad's  transportation equipment
• Postworks New York  digital intermediate
• Soundtrack  trailer
• Stone Management  product placement

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.

Unfulfilled promise.

Sometimes all you need to make a story work is an ensemble of interesting and dynamic characters for a loose and flimsy plot to dangle around. Indeed, some of the best and most memorable dramas stay true to this aesthetic and succeed purely on the merits on how well written and layered their characters are developed to be. Coming from a creative force that up until now has stayed mostly within the shadows of Hollywood (director Terry Kinney known more for his acting gigs, and writer Sherwood Kiraly who wrote an episode of "E/R" twenty-five years ago--not to be confused with acclaimed medical drama "ER"), Diminished Capacity at its heart is exactly that kind of film. It's quiet, unassuming and enriched with a few compelling personalities that help move the film past the screen and into your heart; and yet direction Terry Kinney too often shifts the focus—frustratingly so—against those aspects and onto more caricature plotting devices and flat sources of conflict for the more interesting characters. The result is a movie that for the most part provides a heart-warming and softly-sentimental character drama with dashes of romance and comedy for good measure—but also one that too often stoops to tired writing and uninspired segments built to "speed things up".

And yet, Diminished Capacity is a feature that works more when overt plotting is negated to the sidelines and mundane sources of conflict in the form of irritatingly flat antagonists are ignored. At the center of its tale are the characters of Cooper (Matthew Broderick) and his uncle Rollie (Alan Alda), both of whom share disabilities relating to memory despite being several decades apart in age. Under pressure from the bill collectors to meet ends meet, Rollie invests in his nephew to take him to Chicago in order to sell off an extremely rare and valuable baseball card that was passed down to him from his granddad. What follows is a story that delves in and out of the relationship between Rollie and Cooper to mixed effect; there are moments when the bond that both share resonates off screen, and then there are others where there's just so much farce and obtuse chase-shenanigans going on (one of these involving the film's dunderhead irritant in the form of hick Donny Prine) that all nuances and subtlety that makes the couple so interesting is lost. The film's source of comedy works in exactly the same way; there are small moments when laughter is least expected that come of nowhere to amuse and then there's those other sections that are far too obvious and facile to come anywhere close.

Nevertheless, with such a character drama, a high amount of attention is brought upon the actors to successfully establish the traits present between the characters on the script, and for the most part the ensemble do well in this area. Perhaps the strongest and most compelling aspect of Diminished Capacity in fact comes in the form of Alan Alda who plays old forgetful Rollie with just enough comical edge and sweet, nonchalant resolve to really get his character across. With many other actors, it would be easy to slip into a derivative cutout of the "wacky old coot who doesn't know what's going on", but Alda invests enough humanity in his position to give the film its only real source of heft within all the levity. Broderick who has spent the past ten years in between lackluster blockbusters and lending his voice to animated children's movies, isn't quite as engaging as his co-star, but nevertheless fills the role suitably in all that the script asks for. It's a performance that is easily overlooked in favour of Alda's more attentive qualities, but Broderick serves as a fine counterpoint nevertheless.

For all the good that Alda and crew do however, there still remain major faults within the woodwork of Diminished Capacity's frame that only belittle the more serious and tangible aspects of its design. Aside from the hokey antagonists and somewhat banal scenes focusing directly on the hobby of baseball card collecting, there exists a romantic subplot lurking in the background of Kiraly's story that is never developed or capitalized on enough to fully resonate. Of course to most viewers this short-fused inclusion will be a mere perfunctory mishap, but given the amount of focus put on Cooper and his love interest Charlotte (Virginia Madsen), there is nevertheless an empty sense of disappointment left in the wake of such potential untapped. In the end however, that is essentially what the entire experience of Diminished Capacity boils down to; unfulfilled promise. With a terrific cast and some nice characters, Kinney's feature here can be charming and inviting, but only in small doses; the rest isn't quite as sharp and in the end spoils what is an otherwise decent character comedy.

As a minor sidenote to this review I would like to raise the question of why this film was rated as a 15. The BBFC describes the film as containing strong language, and yet the uses are infrequent and mild. Aside from this—there is virtually nothing to suggest anything close to a 15 age rating. Indeed, when a film like Wolverine can get a 12A rating, how does one rightly justify a feature like Diminished Capacity receiving anything more severe? It's sheer lunacy.

- A review by Jamie Robert Ward (http://www.invocus.net)