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'The Squid and the Whale' dives deep into dysfunction

Be thankful that you were not a part of Noah Baumbach's nuclear family. As he reveals in his semiautobiographical "The Squid and the Whale," the filmmaker has a nasty ability to pin down the vanity, selfishness and petulance that people rarely see in themselves, and he isn't shy about showing the devastating effect those qualities have on family members.

An alternately bitter and (wincingly) funny account of divorce in mid-'80s Brooklyn, "Squid" centers on a pair of mismatched intellectuals and the two boys unlucky enough to be their sons.

Samuel Goldwyn Films 'The Squid and the Whale' 4 out of 5 stars Director: Noah Baumbach Starring: Jeff Daniels, Laura Linney, Jesse Eisenberg, Owen Kline, Anna Paquin Run time: 88 minutes Release date: Oct. 5, 2005 Rating: R for strong sexual content, graphic dialogue and language. See showtimes On the web Official movie site View the trailer    Trailers require Quicktime Rate 'The Squid and the Whale'   Go see it   Make it a matinee   Wait to rent   Don' bother Voter Limit: Once per Hour View Poll Results

From the opening scene, a tennis match in which each parent teams up with one son, we can see how things are going to go when battle lines are drawn: Walt, the teenager, will side with the father whose intellect he idealizes, while the younger and less-confident Frank will cling to his mother (Laura Linney). We also see the demanding, intensely competitive environment the adults inhabit and have foisted on their children. These are the kind of parents from whom any compliment must come in the same breath as a hint that you really could be better — people who respond to dinner-table silliness by saying "that is such an idiotic, stupid thing to do."

Walt, presumably a stand-in for Baumbach, gets the lion's share of the movie's attention, and the dynamic between him and his father Bernard (played with a perfect mix of condescension and overcompensated insecurities by Jeff Daniels) is easily the most compelling relationship here. Walt's beliefs and opinions are entirely inherited from his father; he is given to matter-of-factly informing friends that their favorite book is "minor Fitzgerald" or that his dad's new house is in "the filet of the neighborhood."

It's painful to see Walt submit so entirely (and not always consciously) to his father's flawed ego, especially when it comes to his budding romance with a nice but unglamorous girl. In a movie full of emotional dramas (Frank's disturbing "acting out," the parents' rivalry and new romances, and so on), the one that anchors things is the question of Walt's ability to forge a character of his own.

Baumbach, who made his debut with 1995's "Kicking and Screaming" but didn't exactly catch fire after that, has recently been collaborating with Wes Anderson. The pairing hasn't helped Anderson yet — they co-wrote his disappointing "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou" — but it seems to have nudged Baumbach into finding his voice. "The Squid and the Whale" (the name refers to a display at New York's Museum of Natural History) has a distinctive look and deploys just enough local color to convince us of its setting without overemphasizing it. The family Baumbach portrays might not be one anyone would want to join, but it's an easy one to get wrapped up in for an hour and a half.