The Guilt Trip
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Would you listen to your mother?
Swift shot: Life is about making memories, and if you can share more laughs than tears, consider yourself blessed. When I was around 8, my mom took me to a movie called Yentl….despite that fact, we are still incredibly close to this day. Yes, I know Yentl was a fine film, but not to a kid whose favorite film back then was Raiders of the Lost Ark. So, when I had a chance to take my Mommy Dearest to see this latest Babs comedy, I thought it would make for a nice payback for Yentl. To put it succinctly, The Guilt Trip was as wonderfully funny as it was heart-warming. It was a nice time for a mother and son to spend at the movies, and I was very surprised with the instant chemistry between Streisand and Rogen.
A lot of people don’t like Rogen, but I am not one of them. His style of comedy offers a lot of criticism, as he usually plays the same buffoon, yet with his Andy Brewster role, maybe because he was opposite Babs, he really broke out into a sincere, believable, character that gets under your skin in a good way. The comedy in The Guilt Trip may not have everyone laughing out loud, but my mother and I certainly were as we could relate to many of the delightful dialogs and scenarios these characters often found themselves in.
Joyce Brewster (Streisand) is a widow whose adult son, Andy (Rogen), lives across the country in California. She is set in her ways, doesn’t want to complicate her life with letting another man into her life and as a result, her son deals with a constant flow of her daily nothings. Andy is a chemist, an organic wizard who has developed a super cleaning product that uses only natural ingredients. He’s on a pitch tour to sell his product to some pretty hefty names in retail. His first stop takes him home, to mom, and there he discovers something about his mother that convinces him she needs to come on his cross-country road trip so that she can come to terms with something from her past.
The road trip from hell ensues.
Andy is a great chemist and a terrible salesman….who thinks he is terrific. He believes in his product, it’s stupid name, the packaging and everything. Thing is, he just can’t convince anyone to buy it. Being his mother’s only son, and the source of her greatest pride, Andy isn’t exactly letting on to his mom that he hasn’t sold an ounce of his miracle cleaner. She just assumes, because he’s her son, that everyone loves him as much as she does. Not quite.
But Everything changes in Abilene. Harsh truths are revealed and that quintessential moment in all these dramadies comes to pass. There is a stiff confrontation, but not heavy-handed enough to change the pulse of the film to something too serious. It’s in this revelation that each character really understands their role to the other. But this is all hooey gooey crap!
The Guilt Trip plays heavy on the comedy, delights with cynic, perfect comedy timing and offers a warm little reminder at the end that even the people that pester us, and may annoy us from time to time, will be missed. So to the sons that still have moms to pester them, I say count yourself blessed. Mom always knows what’s best, and if she is wrong, cut her some slack. After all, she brought you into this crazy world. The least you could do is remind her how important she is to you every once in awhile.
So, thanks Babs, for letting my mom and I have another wonderful time at the theater….and as a bonus this time there was no singing! Oh yea, I don’t feel at all guilty revealing there is a brief cameo with Yvonne Strahovski and Colin Hanks, so check it out!
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