I don't think I've genuinely laughed at a film in a long time

And by laugh I mean at parts in a film that are supposed to be funny. This film felt so real. The part where his mom breaks it to him that a girl he barely knows has cancer, and when his Dad just holds up the cat to the camera and it focuses in on it as if it's going to drop some knowledge on your ass...

It's also been awhile since I've seen a film or read a book where the family loves each other. Despite how much his Mom rags on him, Greg obviously genuinely loves his parents and his parents do love him. His Dad is eccentric but not in a "benignly neglecting" way. He makes Greg and Earl eat different foods, he silently encourages them to expand their worlds into films by simply being interested in films himself. Monkey see, monkey do. And the best part is, it just is, what they do. They're all comfortable with each other as family, there are no extreme rifts among the parents or against Greg that would call for "my parents don't get me" angst which gets tired after awhile. It would be impossible, in my opinion, to feel something like that when your father is a bit kooky and your Mom is as empathetic (if a bit overbearing) as she is.

So yeah, I think this film's humor is straight out of someone's life and the small quirks a family can have without it seeming like it was manufactured for a book or film, you know?
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You shut your mouth when you're talking to me!