could you break it down for me like i'm a retarded 5th-grader?

1) why the offensively bad acting? everyone was playing their characters WAY over the top...almost like a really bad local theater performance. but then viggo was pretty much playing it straight the whole movie. the little daughter seemed especially terrible. was this intentional?

2) what was the point of overplaying the whole idylic, laughably-rockwellian, Everytown USA (the scene where the whole family comes to comfort the little daughter in bed...wtf?) when you've already started the movie with an over-the-top violent scene (the slaughter at the motel)?

3) graphic, awkward sex...why?

4) stilted, badly-choreographed actions scenes...why?

from the opening frame, this was really hard to sit through. i'm really stumped as to how so many critics could be so completely wrong. is this just a case of major plea-copping for cronenberg?