Funny it is not.

Rating: 5/10 (22 January 2007)

I watched this movie after hearing all of the overly positive reviews surrounding it. Afterwards, I had that "...is that it?!" feeling.
Starting off with the characters, they're a dysfunctional family and they let you know it. From the good-natured little girl to the heroin-sniffing grandpa to the Nietzsche obsessed son. The directors tried very hard to fit in as many bizarre traits as they could think of. Almost none of them had any impact on the story.
The character that we're all interested in seeing, Abigail Breslin as Olive, takes a back seat (literally) to the other characters, who, after a while, began to get on my nerves.
The journey to get to the pageant happens pretty fast considering they're from another state. It just seems like they travel from desert to desert until they're in California. There aren't any amazing sights along the way. It's just them in the van.
If you want funny, watch any of the "Vacation" movies again. Those are essentially what this movie is attempting to be.
Basically, had the screenwriter actually bothered to make the character flaws go somewhere and place the story in a more inspiring scenery, it could have gone over a lot better. As it stands, I don't see how people can forgive the shortsightedness in the writing. Its worth a rental and I will weep for the Academy if this film manages to grab an Oscar.