"Okay, everybody just pretend to be normal, okay?"

Rating: 7/10 (16 October 2017)

Any other year and I don't think this film gets nominated for a Best Picture award. Heck, a couple that were bypassed by "Little Miss Sunshine" at the 2007 Academy Awards were "The Last King of Scotland" and "Blood Diamond". So right there I have to reassess my first comment and say that I don't know how this picture got nominated in any case. The idea stunned me a decade ago and still stuns me today.
That's not to say the picture isn't entertaining. I liked it well enough, although making it a lot more family friendly would have required Alan Arkin's Grandpa to clean things up in the language department. I know what the film makers were trying to do with his character but it seemed off-putting to me. At least Olive Hoover (Abigail Breslin) got to wear the headphones for part of his routine to take some of the edge off, at least for her.
So whether it was intended or not, the picture did make a pretty good point of how vapid these beauty contests are for pre-teenage girls. Every one of them besides Olive looked like they were made from plastic with the phony smiles and strutting mannerisms to go with the outfits and the hair-dos. The spray-on tan kid was a bonus. That's why it was so great when Olive went into her dance routine to blow away any pretense of professionalism for the hideous parents who preen their kids at such an early age to be Miss Perfect. I guess you can tell I'm not a fan of the whole concept.
Good work here by a nice ensemble cast headed by Greg Kinnear, the motivational speaker who can't land a gig, and his dysfunctional family that actually gets things right every once in a while. The scene of Olive getting her brother (Paul Dano) to come out of his self imposed shell was particularly touching. And there were some good life lessons and revealing insights along the way that one might take heed of. Like sarcasm is the refuge of losers, high school makes for one's prime suffering years, and if you wanna fly, you'll find a way to fly. Some of those don't even require all nine steps.