Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

"Family Weekend" is a dark comedy about a 16-year-old girl, Emily (Olesya Rulin), who takes her family into her own hands to turn them into a normal family. But it's not going to be easy; Samantha Smith- Dungy (Kristen Chenoweth) is a workaholic mom, Duncan Dungy (Matthew Modine) is a hippie artist dad, and her brother and sister are maladjusted kids who think they are perfectly well-adjusted.Emily takes after her mother and plots and schedules the success of her teenage life. One of which is her plan to win a jump rope competition, but her family isn't there to watch her compete because they can't think of anything beyond themselves. At the beginning, the film works because we care for Emily, we feel bad for her, and it's time to whip these idiots into shape.She talks her brother and sister into taking her side, and they take their parents hostage and hold them captive inside their own house until they learn to think, talk and act like real parents. It sounds juvenile but it doesn't seem so bad in execution because Emily has a plan for how to reach maturity.Surprising, or rather unsurprisingly, things don't go according to plan and Emily has made drastic changes to a drastic undertaking. I definitely could have used with a few less detours in Emily's strategy as it hurts her credentials as a sympathetic leading character, which is already on shaky ground, what with the whole kidnapping her parents idea and all.Things then get dramatic which follows Emily losing her sympathy, but the comedy gets back on track with a happy medium between her current family and her ideal family and a resolution which is un-Hollywood but still uplifting. There's also a joke (which I will leave unspoiled as I think it's one of the better ones I have seen) that gives a resolution to her brother's dissatisfied life that is funny, original and meaningful all in one.All in all, "Family Weekend" works well as a dark comedy indie even with a few dramatic and comedic missteps because the beginning and ending are clever enough to keep it cute and entertaining.

Having watched this twice now, I loved it even more the second time.The lead actress is extraordinary. The rest of the cast are inspired and committed. There are some shots that are beautiful, and it also makes some sense of all the crazy.A unique film, it made me laugh out loud, and it made me cry.I also loved the score.The Rope Jumping element was fantastic, and made me appreciate even more how much work she put into the role. Entirely believable.Also, the sister was hilarious, and somewhat reminiscent of Chloe Moretz first roles.And as always, Kristin Chenoweth was brilliant. LOVE that woman.Emotionally, it made me think about families, and about how relevant it was to my own, and many others, upbringing. Because Love.Loved it, will be looking for more from the writer, director and Olesya Rulin.

starting Oleysa Rulin & Eddie Hassell Family Weekend.plot is about a girl who is just fed up of her parents neglecting her one day they missed her jump Roap show then she takes them hostage with help of her brother & sisters to fix the falling apart familynow when you see any comedy movie you expect way over the top stuff there is hardly any movie that lives up to the name underrated i can proudly say not as a reviewer but as a film lover that this film is one of the best of 2013,something like this may have been done before but this was refreshingfirst of all the cast was real awesome specially Olesya Rulin she just nailed it with her best performance.shes cute also,Chloe bridges was nice but Eddie Hassell is one guy i liked also his character name is Jackson but calls himself Thor,other cast members did a fine job story,direction,dialog's everything was just near flawlessmany scenes are funny that i enjoyed but rick & the police scenes are hilarious having seen a lot of films & i also look forward to new films,as i am from Pakistan many films release here earlier i was lucky to see this,but when a critic grabs it it gets ruined,this is one film that audience wont forget for a long timemy rating for family weekend is 10/10 let this be a lesson for those who don't give time to there kids.

I didn't think this was going to be funny at all, i passed over it at least three times.... what a mistake, I found this movie to be very funny and entertaining, It also -to me -- points the finger at each and every character and shows their character flaws, you start out thinking each character might be the "normal"one, only to find yourself asking - is this character a little off? So , while , to me , it was at times , laugh out loud funny, i never lost the feeling that I was learning a little about people.It also carries a good family feel throughout the whole movie. The acting and production values are great , There is an emotional aspect to this one also. It's a movie about a psychotic break- which is a tragic thing --but there are some funny situations that can arise from that. So, there is a "roller-coaster" feel. Ultimately, it is about real life, which ebbs and flows. It made me laugh, I gave it a seven out of ten