a howling good time!

Rating: 10/10 (30 January 2007)

I cried until my eyes hurt. It's a dysfunctional family at its best, trying to make sense of life and pulling together despite each member's shortcomings. The little girl is so sweet, and Grandpa is hilarious; Alan Arkin is a true character actor. Steve Carell provides a performance that is above and beyond what he has done before. The film is nicely set up and the dinner scene is what everyday America goes through most of the time at dinner time. The plot and delivery of the film has a nice rhythm. The dialogue is never wasted, the actors are dead on with their respective characters. This is not a a film to be missed! The second time around it's even better when viewed. Personally, it makes a satire of beauty pageants and everything that is wrong with them, while staying true to the quirkiness of the characters involved.