I enjoyed the idea of this movie, however, the adaptation to the screen execution was spotty.
Movies that are adapted from memoirs always trip me up. I get hung up on the details the writer would have never known about, because he was too young to know about or was not even present when they occured.
There were several moments in this movie that I was aware of the fact that that was happening, these events were completely made up. Glamourized for the silver screen. No one can have that many dishes...
Usually I can let it slide if the events are realistic, and could genuinely happen. But there were times where the situation was so crazy, that I thought, "Uhhh, I don't think so. I doubt it."
But I watched it late at night, didn't fall asleep, and actually cried when Agnes gave Augusten the gift at the very end. I would have given it a "Neutral" rating, but becasue of those few unique and outstanding moments, it gets four out of five stars "I liked it" rating.
What this movie did do for me is made me want to actually read the book. I want to see what he wrote in his version of the story, not what was optioned into a big-screen adaptation with an all star cast of Alec Baldwin and Annette Bening.
I want to know his thoughts.