Absolutely the worst movie.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

This is a wonderfully powerful film that manages to seriously portray family drama in a believable way - so much so that I could match situations in the film to similar situations that have happened at my own family gatherings. It might not be everyone's cup of tea, hence the lower rating, but for me it was a great snapshot into a family's life and all the issues that get dragged up when so many people come together with a lot of emotional baggage.Others have mentioned the amazing acting performances and they really do bring the characters and thus the story to life. You can't help but feel for Ellen Barkin's Lynn as she's getting picked at from all sides, both from judgement and disdain from outside her immediate family and from within with Ezra Miller's Elliot acting up the entire time.However, this film tends highly towards the drama end of comedy-drama, so much so that it contains very little comedy at all in my opinion so I feel the genre categorising is a little disingenuous.

Devastating no holds barred snapshot of American Family Life (as it IS not as we wish it was) may be TOO honest and wickedly insightful for many people (who prefer a little more sugar coating...a little less hysterically funny battery acid wit....oh well LIFE Ain't SWEET...get over it!!).Producer Ellen Barkin leads an absolutely astonishing cast...(and both big names and not so big names are stunning..there is not one phony or soft pedaled second in ANYof these performances).Besides the devastating Barkin (who tackles every emotion like a starving woman with no thought for vanity...every thought for human insight and character clarity)the standouts include Ellen Burstyn as a grandma from hell with Bride Of Frankenstein hair that is the LEAST frightening thing about her character and the stunning young Ezra Miller (who gets more accomplished and electric with every performance.I am actually having a hard time fathoming how this was NOT granted a major wide release...and I simply do not understand the low ratings many "casual" viewers give it...Maybe it is a wee bit too challenging and unflinching? Oh well...stick with your pretty bubblegum fantasy families...THIS is life...and it may not be beautiful...but it burns with a glorious flame in every frame of this lovely film.

I really liked this film, It's problem was that it was sold as a comedy or romance summer type movie, neither fit. While it could be labeled as a "chick flick" it was dark & funny at the same time. It was certainly better than the average made in Canada Lifetime Movie flick. But its large great ensemble cast, with its many family members, made it harder to follow.Ellen Barkin really shown through as the beleaguered mom in this movie, taking her dysfunctional family to her father's estate to the wedding of her son whom she lost custody of to her blando waspy ex husband, Paul (Church) and his current trashy brash wife Patti(Demi Moore playing against type). She is good hearted but high strung and has been over drugged and analyzed by shrinks. She has her share of faults but in comparison to the rest of her family, she is a gem. Her mother Doris (Ellen Burstyn) is cold and has her hands full taking care of her declining husband, Joe(George Kennedy was awesome). Then add her nutty sisters, Diane Scarwid with her poodle in her outfits for more fun. Lynn's family is a case. Her oldest daughter Alice has psych issues, she cuts herself, and everyone is on eggshells about her. Her son Eliot, (Ezra Miller) steals the show as a nasty manipulative intelligent junkie trouble maker. while her youngest son, Ben,(Daniel Yelsky) is a nice sensitive kid who got labeled then drugged by a POS shrink. The son getting married, Dylan, and his bride to be Heather, are really bland sort of beautiful people who serve mainly as foils and pawns in a head game between Lynn & Patty, Pauls past & present wives. Add Lynn's current husband Lee (Winnebago Dale from the Walking Dead), who seems totally out of synch with everything & spouts bland irrelevant nonsense for a little comic relief.Part of the movie revolves around Ben and Elliot making their own little documentary where Elliot gets to spill his acid on everyone else. Not an unusual concept these days but it worked.It all comes to a head at the wedding reception where all sorts of tragic and comic almost tragic stuff happens. A great movie for any intelligent person male or female, to watch.

Before I realized that Sam Levinson, the writer of this film was also the director, I watched and wondered why so much technical fancy and stylish conceits were working so hard to sabotage the source material. All too often, it seemed like the hypnotic charm building up to a good scene would snap under the weight of slick camera move or a clever manipulation of sound, perhaps the result of immaturity or lack of faith in the writing itself. This made me think that the script did have some qualities, but most of the characters still lack an "arc" – the film introduces a wide array of folks, each with an apparent story to tell, but few if any have a chance to resolve their yearnings one way or another (sometimes just one line of dialog would be enough). This strips the film of the sort of satisfaction that a good drama offers. The cast is A-list, a fact that is both attractive and suspect, and although it is tempting to say that "performances are great" in truth, they mostly consist of fidgety and hysterical behavior, a touch overboard as always, when actors run a bit unchecked. Obviously, many viewers relate to this, and connect with these less than subtle displays of erratic emotions… "good acting" however, may entail a tad more… To be fair, it is nice to see Helen Burstyn not behave as the most hysterical of the bunch, for once – she delivers a nuanced performance and her role is held-back. Ellen Barkin, a powerful actress as always, brings her familiar intensity and pain. She always lifts a picture, provided that her character is sufficiently aware of its own processes. Here, again, I am not entirely convinced that she is given enough to work with, particularly when her big moment is handed down, and she has to deliver an impromptu speech, bearing all; if we were rooting for her all along, we the audience are abandoned without as much as a narrative footnote to help us understand why we must care. It occurred to me that the art direction of the picture is spot-on, and measured, masterful indeed in its restraint, as is the photography (the quality of the light) which never tries to upstage the performances; this only amplifies the sense that the director himself is drowning in his own pretensions (He did pick his subject matter, one I might add, which we have seen many times before). Ultimately, I would be tempted to ask what if anything this movie proposes to add to the list of depressing dramas about twitchy family dysfunction (Think "Rachel getting married," "Margot at the Wedding," etc.) I did not see anything new, nor did I walk away with any insights.