I need to try this again, I turned it off after 20 minutes. But maybe I just wasn't in the mood at all, not just the movie. Infact I've done that with a lot of movies recently!
The beginning is weird with very stilted and pretty painful conversations but as the film progresses the exchanges become more natural. I would persevere but I knew it would be odd so I waited until I was in the right mood to watch it. If you weren't in the mood it could be as bad as Raymond's friend says it is.