It's funny because often the stories about small talk in the US center on how vapid it is. People ask, "how are you," and most people are conditioned to say, "good, thanks" (or some variant) and leave it at that. Then you're trained to say, "and how are you?" and often it's the same reply. Then it's onto the weather, news, sports, or other topics. Despite that it's formulaic, as an American, it's comforting and within the norm.