Let Me Entertain You

Rating: 9/10 (8 September 2006)

Make way for yet one more dysfunctional family and this one's a doozy. No one, but no one is anything but totally fouled up. We get to meet each one in an economical opening sequence which establishes that father is heavily into WINNING which means, of course, that he's a Loser, right. Teenage son hasn't spoken for several months, Mom's brother is recovering from a failed suicide attempt after being given the air by his gay lover, dad's father has been kicked out of a retirement home for substance abuse and is obsessed by sex whilst pre-teen daughter has eyes to be a Beauty Contest winner despite being as homely as a mud fence. Because of a technicality the daughter is suddenly eligible for the finals in LA so dad decides that the whole family will drive the 800 or so miles. Naturally everything that can go wrong does go wrong and there's a nice satirical swipe at this kind of contest in general. Alan Arkin's grandpop dies half way there and it is him who has been coaxing the girl in her dance; astute members of the audience will probably not be too surprised when they see her 'act' but the husband-wife director team play down the clues so it will be a revelation to some. This is one of those movies like Sideways, The Station Agent, Garden State, etc, that score heavily on initial viewings but may not hold up subsequently.