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Title: Not as good as expected.
Review: I rented this movie tonight, having vaguely remembered the trailer from 2003. The synopsis on the box was intriguing enough, although I realized the potential for a hackneyed portrayal of an all-too-common family comedy theme. I was hoping for a cleverly-written dark dramedy along the lines of a Charlie Kaufman or Wes Anderson film. What I experienced was a trite presentation of your textbook dysfunctional family.The film had its moments, but those moments were far too rare. There was little in the way of character development; in fact, the character who experienced the most development was the dead one. As screwed up as this family is, I felt no sympathy for any of the characters, and I couldn't bring myself to care about their lives even a little bit. Even the big revelation at the burial service, perhaps the most interesting moment in the film, was somewhat of a ho-hum moment.I really had high hopes for this one, but in the end it just fell flat for me.
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