OK, so this isn't the most sophisticated movie in the world, but on balance I thought the things it got really right outweighed the numerous things that induce cringes. Perhaps the most authentic and convincing scene in the whole move, Mr. Reed's barb notwithstanding, was the scene with the breaking plates and the ketchup. Did anyone notice that this is a kid with very serious issues to face, and the maybe, just maybe, having a tantrum and throwing some dishes and having a ketchup war with dad might be a way for him to access some of that frozen stuff? That one scene, seems to me,would have been symbolic of many more scenes just like it that would have been necessary to move Dennis out of that horrible place he was in, sort of the way movies will show a few quick scenes of a musician practicing to signify someone working away at their instrument eight hours a day for ten years.
On the whole, I thought that there were enough valuable bits like that to merit sitting through the awful parts like the Book signing party.