Here's the thing... you know where this movie is going to go. All the plot points are pretty obvious; it's never going to get ahead of you, even when the "twists" start in the back half.But it's pretty fun to watch. DeVito and Bates are completely cartoonish and over-the-top -- and that's what makes them great together. Edward Hermann and Christine Baranski are perfectly cast, though I wish we'd seen more of them. Everybody else is fine (Bob Odenkirk is a bit wasted -- given that "anger management" is a major theme of the movie, casting a man known for his comedic anger in a role where he doesn't get angry is strange), except for Livingston.Ron Livingston is the center of the movie, and there's a problem. He commits to playing the role a certain way, and you don't understand why, and you don't really like him. More than an hour into the movie, they reveal why he is acting the way he did, and it kind of makes sense, but he's already lost your sympathy by that point.But if Devito and Bates as total white trash screaming at each other, lines like "If brains was chocolate, you wouldn't even have a M&M" is something you want to see in a comedy, then you should see this movie, because there will probably never be another movie where that happens. If you go with them, they keep the movie entertaining.Stick around for the end credits, their duet is almost certainly the highlight of the film. It's in the film, but most of the lyrics are obscured by the dialogue; the song plays in all of its glory over the end credits.

Upon watching this film, you will begin to realize why Ron Livingston's career has gone south to hibernate, and may never return from this awkward film. Also starring Kathy Bates and Danny DeVito in co-starring roles. However, they really do not make the film any more watch-able. The films premise is about a 35 year old man finding out he is adopted, pretty bland for a comedy film, and might I add, Ben Stiller had already done this concept in almost the same exact way several years before in the more successful 'Flirting with Disaster'. I believe that if not the characters portrayed by Bates and DeVito had been "so down to Earth" country bumpkins and looking nothing like Livingston's character, it may have faired better! Even so, this film has a cult following because of Ron Livingston. 3/10!

Ron Livingston, star of the cult-hit "Office Space", bottoms out with this slapstick comedy which takes satiric aim at trailer-park yahoos but, alas, fails to be ironic or nostalgic--it appears to have been made by just the kind of low-class people it pokes fun at. A mild-mannered psychologist, the author of a new self-help book about anger-management, finds out from his family--an upper-crust bunch of boors--that he was adopted after his biological folks left him on their doorstep; worse, his birth parents turn out to be brawling, obnoxious hicks. Utterly predictable and dispiriting comedy. One waits in excruciating anticipation for the first crotch jab (19 minutes in), the first reference to either Jerry Springer or "Hee-Haw" (both clock in around the one-hour mark), and the proverbial cameo by a well-known talk-show host (this time it's Star Jones!). A few mindlessly funny one-liners; otherwise, flop makes "Meet the Fockers" look like "Wuthering Heights". *1/2 from ****

Why are the others who have reviewed this movie critically blaming the actors? It's a top notch cast. Honestly, whoever produced and edited this movie is to blame if it's not more popular. Obviously the actors must have seen something good in the script for all of them to accept their parts they played. To me, this movie was not a disappointment as others have commented. It's silly, yes. Goofy, yeah. To me, if it was produced a bit better, and the editing done a bit better I would have definitely given it at least a 7 out of 10. I watched this movie mostly because I just adore Ron Livingston. Even playing a straight-man character he's very funny. I hope this gets released in the U.S. at least on DVD because with it's cast it is well worth the watch.