Montana Amazon

But it's right up there. Terrible from beginning to end.

A comedy that gradually reveals a poignant dramatic heart as a backwoods dysfunctional family flees their mountain home for a road trip across the American West and into a cultural collision with the modern world. Alison Brie from NBC's Community is outstanding and Olympia Dukakis gives one of her best film performances as the very eccentric grandmother. Both won acting awards for their roles in this film which was also selected as "Best Feature Film" at NYC's Big Apple Film Festival at Tribeca.

As the characters struggle with the world outside their mountain valley, they reveal much about the nature of family and the essence of the human condition.

I loved this movie. First and foremost for the acting of such original characters. Also, the look of the film is rich because of the locations and even the costumes. The amazing Olympia Dukakis as I've never seen her before--unforgettable. It's not a spoiler to say that Olympia has almost no lines; everything is done with grunts, looks and screams. All the acting is uniformly memorable, with a sexy and breakout performance from Alison Brie, and a surprisingly touching one from Haley Osment. The score and songs were energetic and fun, but never too dominant. An added plus is a very funny and gently ironic narration done by Phil Proctor, of Firesign Theatre fame.

I randomly came across this movie one day. After seeing who's in it and reading the reviews here (8/10!!?) I thought I'd try it out. I'm still dumbfounded this exists. The performances are.... ok given what the actors probably had to work with. How this ever got billed as a comedy, I'll never know. Plucky music behind a scene doesn't make it comedy. Full of mental illness and murder, it felt like some bizarro world fear and loathing. Like a train wreck, i couldn't look away.

When a movie continues to rattle around in my thoughts for days after I've watched it, I know it's given me something to chew on. This was not an easy movie to watch. Damaged people. Well, of course, we're all damaged in one way or another. In some of us, it's more obvious, or it really hinders our ability to participate in "society." And yet, even these characters have a kind of grace. Ultimately, each of them even has a kind of integrity that gleams through the broken parts. Being human is hard enough when we come from a place that nurtures and supports us in positive ways. How do we begin to navigate that terrain when we've never been taught or modeled the skills for doing so? As awful as the situation is, this story is told with a quick, light, playful touch. No self pity, no commentary or judgment about these folks. It was an interesting little side trip.