‘Guilt trip’ was great!…
Nah, I’m kidding.
The movie was exactly as implied from the movie poster. Seth Rogan, an uptight fully grown adult who decides to drive across the country with his “hilarious” mother played by Barbara Streisand. I kind of figured that the only reason Seth Rogan was starring in this is because he lost a bet or owed someone a favor (EDITORS NOTE: We actually had a long discussion about this as a group, and although our common consensus was very NSFW we all share this theory).
Seth has actually wanted to star in a movie with Ms. Streisand for a long time because of her role in “Meet the Fockers”. Somehow her carefree sex therapist character reminded him of his own mother. If you are a Rogan fan, I would stay clear of this one. He plays a very toned down character. The seriously embarrassing scenes at the beginning of the movie were funny, but I’m sure the rest will just make everyone feel awkward. Unless you are a Barbara Streisand fan or are just looking for something kind of funny-but-stale comedy to pass your time, I would wait for this one to leave the theaters.
In the beginning of the movie, you find out that Andrew (Seth’s character) is a single, somewhat bitter salesman who reveals he wants to be as far away from his mother as possible. In order to try to bond with her son, Joyce (Streisand) drops the bombshell that she had a boyfriend before she met Andrew’s now deceased father that she loved so much, she even named her only son after him.
Andrew decides to research this lost love and finds he is a high up executive living in San Fransico. Andrew, with ulterior motives asks his mom to drive across the country starting in New York, making stops along the way in Virginia, Texas, Santa Fe and Las Vegas. This is just thing the film needed. Oh, the shenanagens that they will surely pursue!
A few more crazy factors are put into place, such as Joyce pushing for a coup rather than a bigger and more confortable vehicle, or sharing a small, single hotel room. As such we get very cozy quarters for the mother and son in what seems like ever single scene. By now, Andrew is getting more and more annoyed as Joyce has become the typical formula of the not-so adorable movie mother we’ve seen a million times.
Overall, I found this movie to be unoriginal and just plain awkward at times. The only plus side for me, were the few scenes in the beginning that were pretty funny, but unfortunately the rest of the movie does not follow.
This movie opens December 19, 2013 and is Rated PG-13 for adult humor and language, and unfortunately, not for violence, nudity, or dragon slaying.
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