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The holidays are traditionally a time of family togetherness—of hopping in the car or catching a flight to enjoy the season with our parents and siblings and our crazy aunts and uncles. So if you’re planning to spend some quality time with your meddlesome mom this year, you might want to treat her to a trip to your favorite hometown theater—to share some popcorn and laughs while watching The Guilt Trip.
Seth Rogen stars as Andrew Brewster, an organic chemist who’s invented the ultimate organic cleaning product. But before he begins his cross-country road trip to pitch the product to retailers, he stops to visit his mom, Joyce (Barbra Streisand), back home in New Jersey.
In the midst of voicing her usual concerns about her son’s love life (or lack thereof), Joyce opens up to him about the one who got away—the man she loved before she married Andrew’s dad. Andrew tracks the man down in San Francisco—and, determined to help his mom get to San Francisco to reconnect with her lost love, he invites her to join him on his road trip.
The Guilt Trip is the product of some brilliant casting. After all, women of a certain age will be eager to see Babs in a major role again. And, as it turns out, she couldn’t be much better as the overbearing mother. While most meddling moms in movies tend to grate on viewers’ nerves after the first few minutes, Streisand’s Joyce is surprisingly lovable. Sure, she talks too much, she interferes too much, and she shares a little more than she should, but she does it all with a kind of well-meaning charm. She’s sweet and funny, and it’s clear that, while she adores her son, she also has a life of her own.
Meanwhile, with Seth Rogen in the lead role, it opens the door to an audience of 20-something guys. This isn’t the actor’s typical slacker comedy—nor is it as crude or outrageous as his usual roles—but fans will still appreciate his bumbling awkwardness. And, really, if a twenty-something guy is going to take his mom to a movie over the holidays, do you think he’ll choose a long, dramatic musical like Les Misérables, The Impossible, about a mom and her young son fighting to survive a tsunami, or a comedy starring Seth Rogen? My money’s on The Guilt Trip. And though, in many cases, it may be chosen strictly as the lesser of several evils, it’ll prove to be a surprisingly delightful pick.
Of course, The Guilt Trip isn’t a flawless comedy. The set-up is rather clunky, making the whole thing feel just a little bit forced. But it’s still a refreshingly easy-going mother-son road trip adventure, complete with likable characters, a charming cast, and plenty of laughs. So don’t hesitate to treat your mom to a movie this holiday season; you might just enjoy it, too. And, as an added bonus, you’ll get to spend an entire hour and a half with your mom without having to answer questions about your hair style, your eating habits, your love life, or your plans to give her grandchildren.
Blu-ray Review:
Available just in time for Mother’s Day, the perfectly-timed Blu-ray release of The Guilt Trip really is a Mother’s Day no-brainer. And it features some fun extras, too.
The film’s special features take fans behind the scenes, to explore what it’s like to work with Barbra Streisand—and how well Streisand and co-host Seth Rogen worked together. It shows all kinds of off-camera interactions between the cast and crew—and some fun filmmaking dynamics.
Lifelong Babs fans won’t want to miss Barbra’s World—a look at her on-set energy and her admirable three full days of shooting that epic steak-eating scene. And if you watch In the Driver’s Seat, you might just fall in love with bubbly director Anne Fletcher. You’ll also earn a great deal of respect for Fletcher if you watch the surprisingly low-key gag reel—because it’ll remind you of how annoying Seth Rogen can be without careful direction. But the highlight of the special features menu is Real Mother of a Road Trip, which tells screenwriter Dan Fogelman’s story about the real cross-country road trip that he took with his own mother—and how it inspired some of the scenes in the movie.
Listen to the review on Reel Discovery:
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