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Overrated and overhyped

A Disappointing Continuation

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

I was surprised to see that the IMDB collective viewer rating wasn't lower; but even more surprised that most of the written reviews were high. I caught this film on cable tv, late at night, and gave it a look. Though Beth-Williams "Natalie's" and O'Neill's "Dutch" were presented as caring for each other, it was not really shared with us, except as a contrasted to the awful ex-husband's connection. I stayed tuned in, in expectation for more evidence of closeness and growth for them. Next up, the meeting of Dutch and Doyle, the son, was violent, but was presented as "comedy". As the meanness continued, I kept thinking that Dutch might later surprise me, and being the "adult", he'd learn more, and share that with the boy. Or, maybe the boy would inadvertently share his own buried softer side with Dutch, who'd then grow and share. I doubted Doyle could learn anything from Dutch's rampaging self-indulgence. If Dutch did grow more selfless and caring, I only saw it in a few occasionally warmer smiles (not those other glaring smiles he pushed onto Doyle). I welcomed the scene where Dutch tried to entertain Doyle with a private fireworks display. In this scene, the camera work seemed disconnected: it showed Dutch smiling, as in trying to get the kid to laugh along, too; but the jump cuts to the car then showed Doyle only looking at the dashboard. Yes, he looked at and liked the lights, but (based on the camera work) only when Doyle was being distracted by them too . I drew back, into my hope-wait-and-see posture. As Doyle and Dutch began to fall into a shared predicament, and were stranded out in the cold, I felt they might finally draw closer. Then, in a scene at a shelter for homeless folks, Doyle warmed up inside, making a kind gesture to one of the children. The child's mother (played so well, tho' very briefly, by L. Scott Caldwell) responded very lovingly to Doyle before he slept, and I thought the uplifting changes I'd hoped for him (and for Dutch) would finally kick in. It really never seemed to though. The ending prompted me to imagine a sequel. That 2nd movie would pick up after this film's final moment. In it, Dutch's JOY in inflicting some new pain on Doyle, would be responded to appropriately by his mother. Probably not a comedy this time. Overall, Natalie, and Dutch showed no signs to me of being close in any way. They may have each wanted some "good" things, but probably not the same things. At least Dutch got the son home. But Doyle's love of mom may have been discovered as a judgmental response to Dutch's behavior, and not really as a credit to Dutch's "help". Very few laughs for me.

Ed O'Neill, Ethan Embry, JoBeth Williams and Christopher McDonald star in this 1991 comedy. O'Neill (Married With Children, Modern Family) plays Dutch Dooley, a hard-working guy who decides to pick up young kid, Doyle (Embry) from Prep School for his girlfriend, Natalie Standish (Williams). Dutch meets Doyle and they get off on the wrong foot, but eventually become friends while traveling home for Thanksgiving through obstacles. McDonald (Happy Gilmore) plays Natalie's obnoxious ex-husband, Reed. This is a good holiday comedy with a bit of dramatic moments mixed in, O'Neill is great in it and I recommend it.

"It's like Home Alone with Bart Simpson." I think that is a good description of this movie. To get to know his girlfriends son he picks him up from school. Of course the kid is bratty and a lot like Bart Simpson. This is one of those movies written by John Hughes who wrote a lot of classic movies such as The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueler's Day Off, Home Alone and those classic National Lampoon movies.This is not a movie I remember as a kid. It must have not been very popular in the movie theaters. Some of the stuff in this movie is over the top but otherwise this is a pretty good movie. The movie starts out a little slow.

I do so love movies that lift the lid and expose our social attitudes, I could name so many other movies take a real hard poke at what amounts to class snobbery.What we have here is a rich young snob, looking down on a working class truck driver who works hard for his pay, and is therefore able to pay his way.This film also takes a poke at parents who rear such rotten kids, and without any real experiences of life, grow up to be just like their parents.And so the merry go round continues both in America, the land of the free, ha ha ha, and here in England, our green and pleasant land, ha ha ha.Both our nation's rear such monsters, and it will never change, we like being snobs, we like looking down on our peers, and why do we like doing all this ? Because those who do it, feel inferior, and the only way they can make themselves feel superior, is to look down on their peers.As stated I love films that take a real poke at judgemental snobbery, and this film did it in buckets and in a very funny way, but snobbery isn't funny, it's pathetic.