Syl
I liked this film with Bryan Cranston as the Hippy poor cousin Woodrow Snider, town outcast, and Judge Reinhold as the straight-laced Los Angeles doctor. Both men have two wives one played by the fabulous under-rated Penelope Ann Miller and the other by Hallie Todd who does a great job as being the straight woman. Mitch wants a family and get together with long lost relatives in Idaho for Thanksgiving, the traditional American holiday. They get invited and are unaware of the Sniders in a small Idaho town. Cranston and Miller have great chemistry as Pauline and Woody versus the doctor and his suburban wife. There are great moments in the film like when they realize that their Idaho relatives are nuts and crazy than eating last year's fruitcake. In their case, they learn a lot about each other from each other. It's kind of a silly, comedic television movie so there is no swearing or inappropriate kinky behavior. I love the actor who plays Uncle Phil. I'm surprised this film didn't get a welcome reception or isn't shown repeatedly on television around Thanksgiving. It's a nice film.
boycebrown-1
The whole plot is continuously contredicting itself. First of all, what was with those kids? I couldn't stand that little snob Allison whom had no acting talent whatsoever(reminds me of Paris Hilton). Then there was the pointless characters of the two younger siblings because they didn't do anything. Then Twig contredicts herself near the end by befriending that witch and going out with that ugly guy. The adults make no sense because "Woody" said he beleives in karma AND a good ass kicking. The two contredict themselves completely! The wife always seemed to stay by her man and loving him, even having sex with him in front of their guests! But in some odd scenes she's telling her husband that if he doesn't ask his cousin for money she'll leave him. What's with that?The rich woman was too flakey, and easily persuaded into things. then there was Uncle Phil who was just grotesque! If you want a flick that looks great on the promos but is a real turkey in general(no pun intended)watch this excuse for a National Lampoon.
ashleychica2001
I feel that this movie is terrible. None of the parts were funny at all to me. Also, if the movie was set in Idaho, then why there is no snow and why the people are wearing summer clothes? People in Idaho do not wear that stuff during Thanksgiving. Since this movie was filmed in Canada, I feel that the movie should have been filmed in January, instead of warm weather season, or they could have change the location of the movie, where people wear summer stuff during Thanksgiving (like Tennessee or Mississippi or Alabama or Texas (to be filmed in Canada, if that's the case)). Also, I feel that the movie should have been made ten years ago with Chevy Chase. I think that it would have been a good movie with Chevy in there.
Grade: F
Dan Aldridge
Tasteless and embarrassing.Tasteless exposure of nearly every embarrassing thing you never want the world to know about your family - plus a few more things that make watching this movie quite uncomfortable.Judge Reinhold's characteristic awkward, uncomfortable performance could have been used to gain the sympathy of the viewer. Instead it became simply boring. But I don't blame him. The overall lack of comedic timing in this movie indicates serious problems throughout production. The movie had plenty of clever gag ideas as well as some bad ones. Many of the situations touched on were ones that the average person could relate to. The problem was in the amateurish implementation, nearly every - step - of - the - way. Each of the actors and actresses had good moments: good facial expressions and reactions. But, at the end of each scene, one shouldn't be left wondering "what was that all about?". The gags were thrown out there, but the scenes weren't polished: the bedroom-sharing scene ended on a very lame note. The nude shower scene was obviously intended as a gross-out piece, but that's all it was - disgusting, not funny. Even a mud-wrestling scene provides no satisfaction for the male audience. What was the point of including it, then?"Since this project is categorized as being in production", I hope that the producers will take the time to reconnect the dots and polish up the scenes. There is potential, here, for a good movie.Apart from that, one thing the movie managed to do quite well was to totally denigrate the profession of anesthesiology. Now, I'm not a big fan of doctors, but the absolute insult to this medical specialty was sad and unnecessary. I feel truly sorry for them, now.The best line in the movie is one that sums up the entirety of the experience: "Nothing here makes any sense"
AD
