Interesting film, but NOT a comedy

Rating: 2/10 (18 January 2007)

IMO, this is a well-made, well-acted film, but with a lingering aftertaste of sadness, not humor.
Nearly every main character has their life's dream shattered, usually with acute humiliation/embarrassment heaped on for good measure. That COULD have been made to be funny, but wasn't... unless your idea of fun is watching someone accidentally cut off a few fingers with a power saw. These people have way too much at stake, in desperate, edgy lives, for me to be comfortable laughing at their anguish. Played as broad farce, with characters so overblown and self-involved we could enjoy their come-uppance, it might be okay,
but seeing these poor devils repeatedly denied even the smallest shred of dignity, cuts a little too close to the bone.
One of the saddest moments is watching little Olive look at her plump, perfectly normal child's body in the dressing-room mirror... as she wonders if there's something wrong with her. Life being what it is, it's certainly not the last time she's going to do that.
A reviewer at Rottentomatoes calls this a two-hour version of that old Blind Melon music video (with the girl in the bee costume). Would that we could believe it were true, that she'll find happiness and acceptance, in her own uniqueness, and others to share it with. But the final dance her family joins her in is not some carefree expression of oddball joy... it's a desperate attempt to save her from humiliation, at the hands of people so deluded, they've turned their own little girls into a pedophile's walking wet dream. You have to know it's only a temporary reprieve, the world will find a way to get at her again, soon enough.
It bothers me a bit that foul-mouthed, porn-addicted Grandpa, is the one who chose her song and dance. Even played for laughs in the family living room, it's a queasy sort of entertainment. It turns out to be just the right note, for the pageant... but that doesn't make it any more appropriate for Olive.
I feel for these guys, but I don't like watching them much. They're all balanced on a knife-edge of despair. Only in trying to protect the child do they momentarily escape their own personal hells. And somehow, together, they manage to get that bus rolling down the road, one more time...
They have no choice, if they ever want to make it home.