Falls apart at the end

Rating: 7/10 (12 January 2007)

I really wanted to like this movie better than I did. I'm drawn to odd, quirky, iconoclastic, low-budget movies, especially ones with an edge of meanness (e.g., Alexander Payne's Election). LMS started off great, with a collection of characters that, while more than a little contrived, were interesting and deliberately challenging. But as the movie went on, the writer's and directors' desire for forced quirkiness and audience reaction overcame any sort of logic of consistency. SPOILER HERE And you know the film-makers aren't on top of things when they kill off the funniest character halfway through. One of the most telling moments comes at the very end, when the family---reconciled to each other in most unbelievable ways---drives eastward back home into the setting sun. If the film-makers will cheat on the makeup of the solar system, they'll certainly cheat on true human emotions and reactions.