Why didn't I like it?

Rating: 3/10 (10 September 2006)

I didn't like this movie. There, I said it. I feel better now. This movie came highly recommended and I had big expectations. Maybe that was the problem.
Movies like this are character driven. We must care about the characters. We must believe the characters. The only character I believed was the little girl. The rest seemed contrived: Crazy grandad, neurotic mom, disassociated brother, depressed uncle, blah, blah, blah. Seen it a hundred times before.
I'm really surprised indie movie nuts liked this. Are we forgetting what good character development is?