thevisitor967

I saw this film at a film festival and wasn't impressed by it at all. I found it very manipulative and sensationalist. Everything just seemed so black and white in this film: the parents were horrible people and the kids were angels. That's not the way life is! There are some grey areas. I'm sure the parents had some redeeming qualities and the kids had some flaws but I was hard pressed to find them. I just felt I was being manipulated by the filmmaker into believing how horrible parents are in Lebanon because this is the sensationalist news right now! Save your money and go see SHOPLIFTERS instead if you want to see a balanced portrait of a real family.

IMO the reason this was one of the best episodes is because of Shelley Long. Every episode she has appeared in Modern Family has been excellent. This show needs her quirkiness. She especially works well against Ed Neill. It's hard to imagine that they were ever married to each other, but that's what makes their chemistry in the show so good. I think instead of focusing so much on the kids, the show should focus on their mother. It would be interesting to see how the craziness of both Neill and Long contributed to the makeup of the kids. So far it just seems like Long is brought into the show to be used as a monkey wrench in Neill's second marriage. It's just amazing to me how many more stories can be developed if Long was a regular in the show. 3 episodes is not enough of Shelley Long in Modern Family.