This is a great film!

Rating: 9/10 (24 July 2014)

This is just a fabulous film! I think a large part of its strength is the cast. Without these performances it could have lost its poignancy but poignant it is. And touching and warm. Every actor carries their weight with depth and charm, though I have to say Paul Dano is a force to be reckoned with. He is wonderful and has become, in a very short time, one of my favorite performers. And Alan Arkin is HOT! I am more than twenty years his junior but would go out with him in a second. I first saw him in "Wait Until Dark" when I was eleven and have never forgotten that performance and each and every one since then has been extraordinary. And Toni Collet! She is such a varied and nuanced actor. She is never the same but always perfect. Why is it that American actors are so often embarrassingly awful with accents while British, Australian and Welch actors do "American" including the regional dialects with such ease? And then toss in Steve Carrel and Abigail Breshnin. I'm embarrassed that I am not mentioning each performance because every one, right down to the "one line" supporting cast is excellent, I just don't know all the names.
This is a touching, compassionate film that honors family, humanity and the differences that both separate and bind us. After watching it I felt compelled to check out "child beauty pageants", something I knew very little about, and I found myself horrified by something that is now a multibillion dollar industry.
But the politics of pageants is not the point of this film. This film is about love and compassion and the ability to see richness and beauty in that which is not obvious. I really enjoyed this film and if you enjoy the offbeat and prefer humor that doesn't beat you over the head while still allowing you to laugh out loud in parts and cry in others, CHECK IT OUT! You'll be happy and sad that you did.