No one was more surprised than I how much I liked this much maligned film. Some of the criticisms are true — there’s hardly any there there. It’s a tiny movie and the squandering of Emily Watson’s talent is nearly criminal. Perhaps Anderson felt that hiring a great actress excused him from actually having to write a character. However, Adam Sandler’s bursts of childish anger is absoultely striking as is the Rothko-like use of light leaks in the cinematography. And the way the sisters curse Sandler out like they are all still 12 years old is hysterical and very true to life. (How many people do you know that’ve never really grown up when they are with their family?) There’s a wonderful dreamlike surreal quality to the whole project. . .just not one of those epic dreams that you wake up from and say “I gotta write a movie about that!”