I've read nine of the critics' reviews on this page, and I'm astounded that, by a 7-2 ratio, they are mostly positive. Likewise, the five user reviews are strongly positive and intelligently written. All that confounds me. I don't often post about any film I see, good or bad. But this one so rubbed -- no, GRATED -- me the wrong way that I feel compelled to mark my irritation. I am a hard-core indie film consumer, well inured to eccentricity and excess, and I'm always willing to forgive and ignore mediocre production values. Here, however, this extremely low-budget production clearly expended it's resources most efficiently. Also, the cast is more than competent, and, in the case of Jill Pixley as Fanny, totally excellent. And I have to give Chris Brown credit for mostly effective directing and a well-worded script. The problem is that the behaviors depicted are exaggerated to such an extreme that they become unrealistic. Dysfunctional families are a dime a dozen both in fiction and in real life. So if you make one the subject of your film, you'd better be showing me something I haven't known or seen before. These characters, while mostly clichés, have potential, but apart from long-suffering and poignantly human Franny, they exist at the most raucous and irritating end of the spectrum. The mother, as written, is a harridan of fantastic (in the sense of unreal) proportion. The actress's performance is precise and well-delivered, but I didn't believe in the character for a moment due to her extremity. The family doesn't exist that would respond to her behavior so benignly. Despite coming from an emotionally constricted family myself, I found this unreal shrillness so difficult to bear I nearly ejected the disc before the film was over -- something I almost never do. My uncomfortableness cannot be justifiably interpreted as the script's success. There was so much potential here for a juicy, darkly comic, even profound family analysis, but the script is simply de trop, leaving it all unfulfilled.
