SnoopyStyle Cooper (Matthew Broderick) is a newspaper editor having memory problems after suffering a concussion. He is forced to go on leave, and he goes back home. His mother wants to put his uncle Rollie (Alan Alda) into assisted living. Irratic Rollie is having mental problems of his own, but he has a rare baseball card. Hoping to stay independent, Rollie goes to memorabilia convention to sell his card with the help of Cooper, Cooper's ex Charlotte (Virginia Madsen) and her son.I didn't much like either Broderick or Alda's character. They aren't very funny. Uncle Rollie is very angry. They're trying for quirky and funny. I wonder if quirky and dark would make more sense. This never got funny. And the ridiculous slapstick in the end of them fighting for the card is downright stupid. When the card is so valuable and Rollie is treating it like a pawn shop reject, it's just too frustrating and too painful to watch.

Al Rodbell It's hard to understand why this film is rated so low. It just me be that those who go to movies, 14 to 35 year olds have no idea what it means to grow old, and with this aging to lose a sense of self that is encompassed in memory.This film had a patina of comedy, but it was only a bit of sugar on some bitter reality. Having both main characters suffer from cognitive incapacity, but with a difference of one being a decline and the other only temporary was a brilliant device.Alda's sense of despair was perfectly conveyed, as he held on to the one thing he treasured, an old baseball card. But it was difficult to hold onto, and kept slipping through his fingers, like his memory itself.A rare gem of a movie, even more so for baseball fans, more so for collectors of baseball cards, and a jackpot for those who adore the Chicago Cubs.

Gordon-11 This film is about a journalist with post concussion syndrome and his demented uncle on road trip to sell a precious baseball card."Diminished Capacity" is surprisingly engaging. The plot is well written, even tiny details are attended to. It has that special charm to engage viewers. The characters are all likable and authentic, and I really care about them. Alan Alda is amazingly convincing as a demented person. Little by little, his dementia is portrayed beautifully, from the burnt bacon to misplacing the card. One annoyingly implausible thing though, is why would no one help in the fight at the end. That dampens the credibility of the plot, but on the whole it is well written and executed.

wmjaho Maybe Diminished Capacity isn't "all that and a bag of chips," as a friend of mine is fond of saying. But I'll tell you what, it's pretty funny. I think I heard more laughing than anything I've seen at Sundance since Napoleon Dynamite and Little Miss Sunshine. That bodes well for the box office prospects of this film.Alan Alda gives a terrific performance as Rollie Zerb, a small-town Missouri old-timer with Alzheimer's, who lives with his sister (and some hilarious but unidentified guy named Wendell in a trailer by the house). They are visited by Cooper (Matthew Broderick), who arrives at his mother's request to help talk Uncle Rollie into a nursing home. Cooper has mental problems of his own, due to a recent concussion. While back in town, he runs into Charlotte (Virginia Madsen), his high school sweetheart who is recently divorced from the town mayor. And somehow Rollie, Cooper, Charlotte and her son wind up heading to Chicago, where they are going to try to sell Uncle Rollie's rare baseball card of Frank Schulte, from the 1908 Chicago Cubs (the last Cubbies team to win the World Series!).Broderick is solid, in his awkward, understated way. Madsen is the straight woman. But Alan Alda makes the movie as Uncle Rollie, and dominates the screen in almost every scene. And yes, if you squint you'll see shades of Hawkeye Pierce, but his Rollie character is a complete departure from anything he has done in the past, and probably his best comedic performance since MASH.The script is very well-written, if a bit awkward at parts, and under the direction of veteran actor Terry Kinney, the action moves along briskly. There is probably more tension than there needs to be, which doesn't really fit. But when you're not wincing, you're generally laughing. There are some hilarious lines, and a plenty of feel-good vibe. Everyone will like this movie.Sundance Moment: Broderick was much better on stage than I would have expected. He was there with his wife, Sarah Jessica Parker, whose movie Smart People had premiered at Sundance the night before. Alan Alda was charming as well. Bobby Canavale was in two movies playing at Sundance this year, the other being The Merry Gentleman.