The Squid and the Whale (2005 Noah Baumbach & scr)

It's no wonder that kids Jesse Eisenberg and Owen Kline are having a hard time as their parents Jeff Daniels and Laura Linney are somewhat dysfunctional (father especially), peppered with little surprises (he wants to share custody as it's cheaper than paying child support). This is a subtle, pretty funny and well observed tale of what it's like to be a young man, mirroring parents' behaviour (especially funny in Kline's tennis and table tennis scenes) well acted by all. Jesse in particular has strong views on books he hasn't read; when student Anna Paquin moves in and admires Mother and the Whore poster it's clear he hasn't seen it, only had the poster in his room. He slavishly follows his Dad's views until a revealing session with a psychiatrist. William Baldwin is the tennis coach.

Has a most interesting list of 'Thanks to' including Kevin Kline & Phoebe Cates (parents of Owen), Sofia Coppola and Peter Bogdanovich. Robert Yeoman shot it.