Not Best In Show...

Rating: 4/10 (19 February 2007)

Although Browning's "Freaks" is suggested ("That makes One of Us..."), this more closely follows "National Lampoon's Vacation" (cantankerous, plain-spoken grandpa drops dead on the road; the etiquette of proper handling is ignored because the goal's so near).
For this to matter, it needed to be ruthless...that didn't happen. There's no hint of blackness to the comedy, and therefore, no edge. The friction between the members of the freak family sometimes grates, but always leads to Hallmark-card amelioration. That's TV sitcom sentiment, not the sort of stuff for cinephiles to hang our hats on...and they suggest Proust and Nietzsche!
As for the final 'performance' within the performance, I'd hoped for a "Napoleon Dynamite"-styled delivery of a come-uppance...but that didn't happen either. The entire movie was spent building up the tension that the little girl will beat the beauty pageant 'freaks' at their own game...instead it goes for the feel-good twaddle of a 'just be yourself' message.