Good in parts but haltingly delivered

Rating: Null/10 (21 January 2007)

Had a sense of disappointment in watching this film after all the hype the preceded it. It was clear what message was trying to be delivered but scenes and how this was done seem stammered and out of sync. I think the film failed in it's building of sympathy for lead characters, through lack of character development and history, an essential component if we are to take the internal journey with the character. We had a smattering of obvious signs of dysfunctionality, troubled brother, drug addicted grandfather, disfunctory and hurried family dinner etc., but nothing wanted me to actually care for these people at the start. We only really find out that Dwayne is a troubled stepson when he cracks and breaks his vow of silence. Before that, it is a presumptive footnote not explicitly addressed or really mentioned as a possible motive for his behavior and was not entirely sure who's son he was from what previous marriage. Which is a shame as his character was one of the most interesting and he never said a word for 3/4 of the film. This film also relied heavily on the compassionate powers of the viewer to fill in the emotional blank spots it was unable to put on film and regularly attempted to draw on this with long silences and superb shots in the absence of real dialog. Some great moments however this film will not stand the test of time nor make conversation in the coming years for these very reasons. All characters did pull it off however and played their roles expertly to the limit the script would allow for and we really see professionals earning their pay interpreting and adding value. Greg Kinnear and Toni Collette should be given an award of another type for pulling it out of the fire.