“Plan to be surprised.”

Had I known this was directed by Peter Hedges (director of the beautiful Pieces of April) and featured Alison Pill, I would’ve been itching to see it much sooner. As it is, I’m kind of glad I missed this information, because it almost crept up on me the same way as April did 4 years ago. I say almost ... at times I found it too excruciating for words, I think beginning with a scene where Carrell finds himself stuck in a shower, dressed, with Binoche, as one of his daughters sits outside asking her for girl advice. The big awkward family gathering element at turns reminded me more of the painfully unfunny Death at a Funeral than the other Burns family movie (yes: Carrell’s family here has the same surname as that in Pieces of April – does anyone know if there’s supposed to be a connection?)

There are minor chuckles along the way – Alison Pill is watchable as ever, as are Dianne Wiest, Juliette Binoche, and the girl playing Carrell’s youngest daughter. By the end I had almost zoned out entirely; but the 11th hour Richard Curtis like finale (I think it’s the youngest daughter’s “Go. Now!” that really brought me back in) really swung me back into loving it again, and I would probably watch the movie again just to see if it was just a victim of my mood or simply watching too many movies in one night.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 26th, 2008 at 3:41 pm in 3 hearts, Movie Reviews and tagged as cuties, dysfunctional family, single father. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.