The Guilt Trip

Because comedies are my favorite genre, watching "The Guilt Trip" should've been a no brainer. However, as I was viewing this film, it was progressively more and more difficult to pinpoint where this comedy was going. It wasn't until at a certain point that I finally realized where the writer was trying to convey this.aaa

As inventor Andy Brewster (Seth Rogen) is about to embark on the road trip of a lifetime, a quick stop at his mom's house turns into an unexpected cross-country voyage with her, Joyce (Barbra Streisand) along for the ride.
As they travel in their small rental car, they attempt to bond, but not without a lot of awkwardness between one another. However, through all the eclectic people they encounter i.e. executives of companies Andy is trying to sell his product to, different waitresses, one, Ben Graw (Brett Cullen), who befriends Joyce, and through different situations, the two start realizing things about themselves that they never knew about. Can this mom and son heal during this trip or end up driving that wedge between each other even deeper?

Others to round out the cast are Kathy Najimy as Gayle, Miriam Margolyes as Anita, Rose Abdoo as Diana, Colin Hanks as Rob, and Adam Scott as Andrew Margolis Jr.

This was carefully delineated by director Anne Fletcher ("Step Up" '06, "27 Dresses" '08, "The Proposal" '09). Even though the majority of Fletcher's work has been as choreographer, she is certainly proving herself worthy as an effective director. It was written by Dan Fogelman ("Cars" '06, "Fred Claus" '07, "Bolt" '08, "Tangled" '10, "Cars 2" '11(orig. story), "Crazy Stupid Love" '11). This guy usually does fairly 'fluffy' stuff, but this film had a bit more soberness than his predecessors, which I feel is a good thing. When I mentioned prior that I wasn't sure where this film was going, I actually thought that this was going to be a zany, crazy comedy, and instead, it was more subtle, sober-like in that these two people had to evolve or end up killing one another. So, what I thought at first was a very funny film, turned out to be a more poignant comedy. One can say, I even had to evolve myself in how I was going to accept this. And what I concluded was that you have to give this film a chance--it will grow on you.

The chemistry between Steisand and Rogen was far better than I could have even imagined, and that, in and of itself, is practically worth the price of admission.

Out of 4 Stars: 3                           Rated: PG-13                         95mins.