Diminished Capacity

I actually liked this film. It's a light-hearted look at people suffering from reduced mental capacity (memory loss, lapses in judgement) due to aging (portrayed by Alan Alda), or from post-concussion syndrome (portrayed by Matthew Broderick).

The main characters played their characters very well. Alan Alda especially did a remarkable acting job. Bravo Alan! I'm going to have to dig through the archives and see your earlier works as well. Very convincing as the elderly gentleman who's slowly losing his marbles while retaining a very charming outlook on life.

The storyline is quite simple. You're not watching this movie for a complex or compelling story but rather to watch the characters and how their relationships evolve with each other. Of course there has to be a romantic interest thrown in and although that was maybe one of the lesser parts of this movie, Virginia Madsen plays her part well and looks very fetching as a 40-something single mother.

7/10

Weird feeling all through this one. The story just never hits and we keep wanting for things to move forward. Some funny moments though and a lot of love for baaeball which you can't complain about.

I found this DVD at a garage sale and I was shocked that I never heard anything about this movie. A killer cast with horrible cover art. The story was wonderfully quirky. I cared for the characters and was fascinated by the plot complications. There was a nice combination of humor and sadness. The story of country folks trying to survive in the big city of Chicago was a nice touch. I loved the real Cubs footage and could feel the pain of some of the fans portrayed in the film. I once loved baseball and I would imagine any true fan would get a kick out of the real baseball references throughout the film. Overall a satisfying surprise

Alan Alda's warmth and authenticism keeps this otherwise too gullible, naïve and simplified film about the loss of one's mental capacity at a watchable level - for a while. Both Alda's character, an ageing Alzheimer victim, and his nephew (Matthew Broderick) suffering from memory loss after a head injury, are interesting characters, but director Terry Kinney (of the Steppenwolf Theatre) doesn't give them more than a third of a film to develop and batter each other, to use a term fitting the remaining plot of Diminished Capacity, which is centered around baseball memorabilia - and in the goofiest possible manner. Alda, thinking he has a valuable vintage baseball card, takes Broderick and his stock love interest Charlotte (Virginia Madsen) to a memorabilia expo in Chicago, and after that, it all goes haywire. The comedy is forced and badly timed, and the film struggles to retain the truthful string it seemed to have created early in. In the end, the film has little more to offer than a frenzy of badly drawn supporting characters and more or less ridiculous complications.

I saw this film last night and I really enjoyed it. It showcased some human elements that have been forgotten by Hollywood. Sense of family, memories and bonds that are easily dismissed in today's world. Wonderful performances by the whole cast, especially Alan Alda and Matthew Broderick. Two comedic legends, but what touched me was the compassion that both their characters showed for each other. It was a comedy but personally, I found the sweetness more compelling than the comedy. I would recommend it for people who prefer dialogue and listening to the characters to the standard big noise movies that seem to dominate the film world.