Unstrung Heroes is a 1995 American comedy-drama film directed by Diane Keaton and starring Andie MacDowell, John Turturro, Michael Richards, and Maury Chaykin. The screenplay by Richard LaGravenese is based on the memoir of the same name by journalist Franz Lidz.

Plot

When young Steven's mother Selma is diagnosed with ovarian cancer and becomes increasingly ill, his eccentric and emotionally distant inventor father Sid— despite deep reservations— allows him to live with his dysfunctional uncles, pack rat Arthur and delusional paranoid Danny, in their cluttered apartment in the rundown King Edward Hotel. The two, who live in a setting worthy of the Collyer brothers, rechristen the boy with the more colorful name Franz and help him cope with his emotions by teaching him to value his own uniqueness. Learning from the odd pair that even though hope and science may fail, but art always survives, Franz secretly begins to create a memorial to his mother before she dies, filling a box with personal mementos— a tube of lipstick, an empty Chanel bottle, a cigarette lighter, and the like.