Netflix it! The Daytrippers: Movie, DVD Review (2009)

4/04/2009 Posted by Admin

Editor's Note: Netflix It is a new feature meant to draw attention to older films some readers might have missed, and might consider either renting or adding to their Netflix queue. The following review of "The Daytrippers," never published here before, is the original 1996 review. It comes from director Greg Motolla, whose "Adventureland" is now in theaters--and well worth seeing. A review of that coming shortly. (As an aside, Mottola also directed Superbad.)

Movie, DVD Review
“The Daytrippers”

Written and directed by Greg Mottola, 87 minutes.

In this hip and spirited comedy by newcomer Greg Mottola, we are invited into the unraveling lives of the Malone family, who somehow, in the course of 87 minutes, manage to band together and bring dysfunction to an all-time new low.

It all starts out rather badly for Eliza Malone D’Amico (Hope Davis) when she finds a love letter addressed to her husband Louis (Stanley Tucci) by a mysterious, unknown ‘Sandy.’

Concerned--but not yet alarmed, as she believes her marriage is mistress proof--Eliza takes the letter to her parents house, where her sister Jo (Parker Posey) and her fiancee Carl (Liev Schreiber) are there for Thanksgiving. It is Rita Malone (Anne Meara), the hysterical, needy and co-dependent matriarch of the Malone clan, who whisks her family into their battle tank of a station wagon for one bumpy ride into New York City.

There, where Louis works as a book editor, they plan to confront him with the letter.

While what ensues might at times seem contrived, and the ending a bit too predictable for its own good, this nightmare of a family is nevertheless great fun to watch as they are forced to re-evaluate their relationships in misadventure after misadventure.

The performances--especially Anne Meara’s (Medusa anyone?) and Parker Posey’s (no one sneers better in America than Ms. Posey)--are strong. Follow my advice: If you’re having a family reunion anytime soon, forget the Prozac and see this movie first. I promise your family will look tame--perhaps even healthy--in comparison.

Grade: B+