Movie #109 ........................."Diminished Capacity"

Movie # 109 "Diminished Capacity" - well, I certainly have seen worse, but not with as many people that I like and respect in the cast. It's slow (it's about an uncle who has Alzheimer's and his nephew who is suffering from a concussion who are trying to sell a baseball card at a card sale, so what would you expect?), and there are way too many wacked out characters to try to interject humor and energy who just make those parts pass the stupid line, but there's some charm and sweetness that you can't deny this film. And it's written with a super love for the cubs and Chicago (that's why I watched it --- today in the Trib I had read that the Steppenwolf Theatre had its own film company now and this was the first movie it made) which I found most enjoyable; in fact, there's a scene in here where the Cubs get beaten by the Cardinals (again) in one of those grand slam endings (when the Cubs were winning by two runs) and it's great fun to see the Cub fan take his radio, swear at the Cubs ("why do you do this to me year after year after year, the names change, but it's always the same") and slam the radio to the ground and stomp all over it --- it's in there for Cub fans all over the world. if that sounds endearing to you (or funny), you gotta see this, because I think you'd be the audience who 'gets" this film. But it is uneven and downright ridiculous in some scenes. But Cub fans know what that means. They' d "get it".





Average rating: 2.931
I gave it 3 stars
Diminished Capacity
(2008) NR
Afflicted with memory loss himself after a head injury, Cooper Zerbs (Matthew Broderick) still has plenty of brain function left to worry about his beloved Uncle Rollie (Alan Alda), a baseball memorabilia collector suffering from Alzheimer's disease. When he discovers a priceless card in Rollie's possession, Cooper takes his uncle on a road trip to Chicago to sell it. The proceeds, he hopes, will secure Rollie's future. Virginia Madsen co-stars.