a friend of mine be hesitant to see this movie and because she would hear that it push the agenda that divorce be never a good option for deal with marital problem . i do not really know who tell her this and and i hope this same reason isn not keep others from see it . this isn not at all what i take away from the film . it certainly communicate the idea that divorce isn not easy and on either the parent or the kid and but i do not feel that it pronounce judgement on those who turn to it a an option . the squid and the whale be a sad though at time very funny look at what divorce do to one family in 1986 new york . jeff daniel play the dad and a pompous and arrogant writer whose feeling of commercial failure ( he teach literature at a university ) cause him to act intellectually superior to everyone he meet . daniel be almost too good in this role while he remind me way too much of people i actually know who be like this . he the kind of guy who would be deadly at a dinner party and because there no such thing a a casual or flippant remark in this guy presence . he analyze everything to death and and isn not content until everyone opinion match his own . laura linney play the wayward mom and blame for the break up of the marriage by the dad because of a string of affair she carry on . her guilt keep her from be able to discipline her son and especially the old and who treat her horribly . linney role be small but in some way much more complex than daniel . her character have to take responsibility for her infidelity but still make the audience sympathize with her . caught in the middle of this mess be their two boy . the old quickly ally himself with his dad and and walk around regurgitate his father opinion on every subject and rarely pause to form any of his own . the young son and more sensitive and tired of be intellectually brow beat by his father and old brother and stick closer to the mom . no one be totally to blame and yet no one be completely innocent either in this honest and frank film . noah baumbach have make no secret of the fact that it be base on his own adolescent life and and it have that confessional feeling that movie in this genre frequently do . there be awkward moment when this doesn not totally work . the end for one be rather ham fisted and and a scene between the old son and his school therapist seem awfully pat to me . but the acting and the sharp writing make up for these weakness and and the movie manage to be poignant without ever become maudlin or overly sentimental . see it for the performance of linney and especially daniel and who have be prove his versatility a an actor over the last few year . grade represent a .