"It's an ambiguous ending," Walt Berkman (Jesse Eisenberg) tells his slow-witted girlfriend Sophie, and while he's talking about Kafka's "Metamorphosis," he could easily be referencing "The Squid and the Whale." Writer-director Noah Baumbach has crafted a film that is equal parts uproarious humor and personal anguish. There isn't a hint of the shaky imbalance that plagues movies that attempt to cross comedy and drama as he tells the story of Joan and Bernard Berkman (Laura Linney and Jeff Daniels), a couple that has spent years in a downward spiral of unhappiness, affairs, and crushed hopes. Walt and his younger brother, Frank (Owen Kline) approach this transition with a blend of misplaced anger and (often hilarious) sexual awkwardness; Baumbach embeds traits of the parents in the sons, which truly makes us feel that there is something at stake with the outcome.<br /><br />Even if you didn't know that Baumbach and Wes Anderson ("Rushmore"; "The Life Aquatic") are close friends, you would notice from the overall design of "The Squid and the Whale": the use of music as a dramatic element (Pink Floyd's 'Hey You' plays a crucial role), costume design (Bernard and Walt wear the same kind of Nikes), and the titular exhibit, which bears more than a passing resemblance to the drawings that punctuate Anderson's films. And while the emphasis here--as in Anderson's "Royal Tenenbaums"--is a dysfunctional family, Baumbach wisely keeps us intimately invested in the small cast, thus tightening both the dramatic and comedic effect. Anderson's films all too often suffer audience detachment as a consequence of gigantic ensemble casts.<br /><br />And the actors are in fine form: Daniels' Bernard is the epitome of a once-successful author in flux, looking to an adventurous student (Anna Paquin) to kick-start his faded sex drive; Linney's Joan is a blend of loose morals and regret; Eisenberg fuses the clunky transition to adulthood with anxiety over his identity ("Don't be difficult," he says in lockstep with his father); and Kline's foul-mouthed, alcohol-drinking, semen-spreading Frank displays the type of growing-up experience that is seldom touched in mainstream cinema.<br /><br />But the key to "Squid" really is its ambiguity--it doesn't go down a predictable route, and by the end, our minds are bubbling over with questions (Did Joan remember watching "Robin Hood" with Walt? Did they retrieve the cat? Did Walt get back together with Sophie? What was the picture Frank carried around? What did Bernard have for breakfast?) that we don't fault it for not answering. As an intimate snapshot of a family in transition, not only do questions go unanswered, but the 'ending' really isn't an ending at all...yet this story really doesn't need one. "The Squid and the Whale" is a funny, beautiful, and painful experience...don't miss it.