The Savages

The last thing the two Savage siblings ever wanted to do was look back on their undeniably dysfunctional family legacy. Wendy is a self-medicating, struggling East Village playwright, aka a temp, who spends her days applying for grants and stealing office supplies, all while dating her very married neighbor. Jon is an obsessive-compulsive college professor in Buffalo, writing obscure books on even more obscure subjects, who still can’t commit to his girlfriend after four years even though her cooking brings him tears of joy. Then, out of the blue, comes the call that changes everything—the call that informs them that the father they have long feared and avoided, Lenny Savage, has lost his marbles. And there is no one to help him but his kids. Now, as they put the middle of their already arrested lives on hold, Wendy and Jon are forced to live together under one roof for the first time since childhood, soon rediscovering the eccentricities that drove each other crazy. Faced with complete upheaval and the ultimate sibling rivalry battle over how to handle their father’s final days, they are forced to face the past and finally start to realize what adulthood, family and, most surprisingly, each other are really about. 

Director/Writer: Tamara Jenkins
Producer: Ted Hope, Anne Carey and Erica Westheimer
Executive Producer: Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor, Jim Burke, Anthony Bregman, Fred Westheimer
Cast: Laura Linney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Philip Bosco