I seen the movie and is in 100% agreement with your review. My main complaint about the movie was just that it was depressing alot of the time. Kind of like "About Schmitt" or "As Good as it Gets" or "The Full Monty" they seem to only have bad things happen most of the time. The Granddad dies, the kid learns he can't go fly fighter jets, the father don't get the book deal, Olive don't win the beauty contest.
You still laugh at the funny parts but you leave the theater a little down.
I actually came out feeling pretty good. There are sad moments, but what struck me is how the characters got around them with each others' help. I kind of got the feeling "yeah, you'll face hard times in life, but with the love of family you'll come out okay, maybe even stronger." To me, that is more meaningful and uplifting than an easy feel-good ending.