Written by / 1/01/2013 / No comments / , , ,

THE GUILT TRIP

year: 2012 cast: Barbra Streisand, Seth Rogen rating: ***1/2
Following the path of TRAINS, PLANES, AND AUTOMOBILES and its recent imitation DUE DATE, one would expect, with the pairing of a put-upon son and his dotting mother, that THE GUILT TRIP would attempt a joke-a-minute style adventure with tons of arguing, misunderstandings, and highway hijinx (i.e. what the trailers implied). Surprisingly enough, this is a very laidback road movie about a wannabe inventor named Andy Brewster embarking on a cross-country trip with his semi neurotic mom, Joyce – Barbra Streisand’s return to the silver screen in a starring role after many years: It takes a good twenty minutes before hitting the road, learning about our mother/son duo, both idly hanging around mom's East Coast house. Single guy Andy is trying to sell his environmentally safe cleaning fluid, while Joyce only wants him to find true love. After she shares about the original love of her life – a guy she’d met before his father (who died when he was eight), Andy surreptitiously locates the man’s location in San Francisco and plans the trip so mom can reconnect with her former flame (something she’s unaware of).

This alone keeps the viewer intrigued through a string of off-road situations: the car breaking down outside a strip bar and a Las Vegas visit sound more promising than they turn out to be. One scene in Texas has Joyce eating a four-pound steak for a prize, and there's an assortment of eclectic characters along the way. Yet the most entertaining scenes involve Andy’s failed attempts to sell his product to perplexed businessmen in various stuffy stopovers.   

Both Rogen and Streisand have a breezy chemistry and really seem to know each other – maybe too well. The moments where both are stuck in the very small car, headed across America, whiz along in montage sequences, never allowing the audience to feel as claustrophobic and/or frustrated as Rogen, who’s a bit too whiny and negative while Babs isn’t annoying enough to cause any real sparks (or anti-magnetism) between them. And yet, by the end of this mellow trip you’ll feel that at least the characters benefited from the journey: they’re both genuinely likable for that alone to count for something.
Share This Post :
Tags : , , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.

All Time Popular

Featured Post

ROBERT FOXWORTH BEARS JOHN FRANKENHEIMER'S 'PROPHECY'

Title: PROPHECY Year: 1979 Rating: ***1/2 At one point, when idealistic city doctor Robert Foxworthy and quiet musician wife Taila Shire are...

WWW.CULTFILMFREAKS.COM

WWW.CULTFILMFREAKS.COM
Movie Reviews, Interviews, Articles and Pop Culture from White Heat to Blue City

RIP ACTOR KEN HUTCHISON

TOTAL HITS

Popular Trending

FOUNDED BY JAMES M. TATE

FOUNDED BY JAMES M. TATE
RANDOM QUOTE: "Powerful little things, these credit cards." Harry Morgan, Dragnet

FILM NOIR & NEO NOIR CRIME

FAVORITES SHORTLIST

1)OTLEY 2)HELL IS A CITY 3)ROBBERY 4)THE FEARMAKERS 5)CANYON PASSAGE 6)VIOLENT SATURDAY 7)HOT CARS 8)JUNGLE STREET 9)THE CROWDED SKY 10)THE ROARING TWENTIES 11) ANATOMY OF A MURDER 12)CALCULATED RISK 13)SWEENEY TWO 14)RAIDERS FROM BENEATH THE SEA 15)HARDCORE 16)THE BREAK 17)WHITE HEAT 18)AL CAPONE 19)THE SERGEANT 20)FALLEN ANGEL 21)SHARKS' TREASURE 22)THE ASPHALT JUNGLE 23)ASH WEDNESDAY 24)THE SYSTEM 25)AIR PATROL 26)THE STONE KILLER 27)SANDS OF THE KALAHARI 28)WILLIAM CONRAD'S BRAINSTORM 29)RIOT 30)THE MAN FROM LARAMIE FAVORITE ACTORS 1)DANA ANDREWS 2)JAMES CAGNEY 3)STANLEY BAKER 4)MARLON BRANDO 5)JACK NICHOLSON 6) CHARLES BRONSON 7)BURT REYNOLDS 8)WILLIAM LUCAS 9)TOM COURTENAY 10)GENE HACKMAN DIRECTORS 1)JACQUES TOURNEUR 2)RICHARD FLEISCHER 3)VAL GUEST 4)STANLEY KUBRICK 5)OTTO PREMINGER 6)ORSON WELLES 7)JOHN GUILLERMAN 8)JOHN LANDIS 9)SAM PECKINPAH 10)MICHAEL WINNER

BRITISH NEW WAVE CINEMA

RARITIES AND EXPLOITATION

HAMMER HORROR & THRILLER

Popular This Month

CHARLES BRONSON CINEMA

CINEMA OF DANA ANDREWS

WESTERN GENRE REVIEWS

PEAKING INTO THE SIXTIES

KICKING IN THE EIGHTIES

TALES AND REFLECTIONS

REVVING THE SEVENTIES

Most Popular Last Year