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Dysfunctional Families

Perhaps because it's something nearly all of us can relate to (apart from The Bradys), messed-up families have always been a popular subject for filmmakers in all genres. Whether you're playing it for laughs ('Arrested Development', 'Go For Zucker'), drama ('Kramer vs Kramer', 'Nil By Mouth'), or thrills ('The Quiet Family', 'Olivier, Olivier') the family dynamic is a deep well of ready-made love/hate relationships, seething resentments and hidden secrets. What more could a filmmaker, or a film-watcher, ask for!

The Wife (1995)

6.3/10
Director: Tom Noonan
Starring: Julie Hagerty, Tom Noonan, Wallace Shawn, Karen Young

Actor/writer/director Tom Noonan and Julie Hagerty star as Jack and Rita, a couple trapped in a fragile marriage who share their lives and professions... Read more

Then She Found Me (2007)

6/10
Director: Helen Hunt
Starring: Matthew Broderick, Colin Firth, Helen Hunt, Bette Midler, Ben Shenkman

Helen Hunt directed, co-wrote and stars in this engaging seriocomedy about a middle-aged schoolteacher whose life is thrown into turmoil when her husb... Read more

This Is Where I Leave You (2014)

6.6/10
Director: Shawn Levy
Starring: Jane Fonda, Rose Byrne, Timothy Olyphant, Jason Bateman, Tina Fey, Dax Shepard,...

When their father passes away, four grown siblings are forced to return to their childhood home and live under the same roof together for a week, alon... Read more

Thumbsucker (2005)

6.6/10
Director: Mike Mills
Starring: Lou Taylor Pucci, Tilda Swinton, Vince Vaughn, Vincent D'Onofrio, Keanu Reeves,...

Striking the perfect balance between adolescent awkwardness and black comedy, this film stars Lou Taylor Pucci as a neurotic 17-year-old whose coping... Read more

Tideland (2005)

6.5/10
Director: Terry Gilliam
Starring: Jodelle Ferland, Jeff Bridges, Janet McTeer, Brendan Fletcher, Jennifer Tilly, D...

Terry Gilliam's macabre and surreal fairytale centres on young Jeliza-Rose, the neglected daughter of a couple of strung-out drug addicts (Jeff Bridge... Read more

Torch Song Trilogy (1988)

7.7/10
Director: Paul Bogart
Starring: Anne Bancroft, Matthew Broderick, Harvey Fierstein

Harvey Fierstein adapted his Broadway hit play about the trials and tribulations of being a sexually active, gay urban male in the 1970's for the big... Read more

Towelhead (2007)

7/10
Director: Alan Ball
Starring: Summer Bishil, Peter Macdissi, Maria Bello, Aaron Eckhart, Toni Collette, Eugene...

Aka 'Nothing Is Private'. Writer Alan Ball ('American Beauty', 'Six Feet Under') makes his directorial debut with this controversial adaptation of Ali... Read more

Treading Water (2001)

5.7/10
Director: Lauren Himmel
Starring: Angie Redman, Nina Landey, Annette Miller, Robert Harte, Shawn Nee

Casey lives on a boat with her loving girlfriend, Alex. Her parents are openly hostile to her 'lifestyle' but have begrudgingly invited Casey to Chri... Read more

Trust the Man (2005)

5.7/10
Director: Bart Freundlich
Starring: Bob Balaban, Ellen Barkin, Billy Crudup, David Duchovny, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Eva...

Breaking up is hard to do in this romantic comedy/drama with Julianne Moore and David Duchovny as an outwardly happy New York couple, while in actuali... Read more

Turn the River (2007)

6/10
Director: Chris Eigeman
Starring: Famke Janssen, Jaymie Dornan, Rip Torn, Matt Ross, Lois Smith, Terry Kinney

Famke Janssen plays Kailey, a woman who makes her living gambling and hustling pool in seedy bars. Her lifestyle drove a wedge between her and her hus... Read more