Since this story goes back and forth between a comedy and a really sad, dramatic story, I guess you could call it unique. The drama is much more at the end involving Andie McDowell's character.
Supposedly, this is a true-life story of Steven "Franz" Lidz and his wacky family - the kid (Nathan Watt), the father (John Turturro) and the two uncles (Maury Chaykin and Michael Richards.). The story has a lot of Jewish flavor and religious themes, pro and con. It's not an easy story to explain so I won't go past what I've said that it's simply an interesting portrait of a different-kind of family with lots of laughs early on but tears later.
You could get an idea early on that it's kind of a sweet movie, but there are some uncomfortable scenes in here. There is a little bit of about everything, guaranteed to strike everyone's emotions somewhere along the way. The story stayed with me long after I first watched it.
