Ugh.

Rating: 1/10 (14 January 2008)

Can a movie possibly be more overrated? The answer is no. Give LMS credit where credit is due: It's pretty much single handedly responsible for the recent wave of horrendous "quirky-clever" comedies, where eccentricities are substituted for character development and the plot is easily reduced to a platitude suitable for a Ziggy cartoon. LMS is a perfect example of a comedy that people who wish to distinguish themselves from the Scary Movie/Date Movie crowd often list as one of their favorite comedies---a movie that appeals to their cultured sensibilities and refined comedic tastes. The moral of the film is trite to the point of offensiveness, but the real crime are the pointlessly, helplessly quirky characters who play off each other in a predictably dysfunctional manner. Man, a gay Proust scholar? Hi-Larious! I'm sure all the college educated audience members are chuckling to themselves at the literary reference--despite that fact that his being a Proust scholar contributes nothing to his character except to make him quirky. Same goes for the moody teenager who has taken a vow of silence until he gets into the Airforce. Same with the self-help seminar obsessed dad who is actually a loser in real life. Oh and please lets not forget the adorably precocious beauty pageant grade-schooler and her uproarious cussing grandfather. You wont believe your ears when the grandfather, (who is really old!) cusses, and then does drugs! O to the M to the G! Way to defy our expectations and challenge our preconceived notions about the elderly, movie! Even the god damned van they drive in is quirky. Worse still is the effect that this movie had on the industry---spawning even more vapid dreck like Stranger Than Fiction and other quirky for the sake of quirkiness comedies. And a nomination for Best Picture? Really? That's got to be a low point for the Academy. Avoid LMS. At all costs.