Review of The Guilt Trip (2012) by Reuben M — 23 Mar 2013

I'll admit it...I got suckered by the previews for THE GUILT TRIP. Although I'm not a big fan of Barbra Streisand, the movie looked like a bit of a guilty pleasure...a mis-matched road trip with mother & son. Rogen and Streisand appeared to actually have pretty good chemistry together, and while I figured the laughs would be cheap and obvious, they might also be plentiful.

Well, I was roughly half right. The laughs WERE cheap and obvious, but not very plentiful. And many of the best ones were shown in the previews (and some of THOSE were not in the movie until the closing credits "deleted scene" montage). The chemistry WAS there, but it included a lot more sadness and anger than such a lightweight movie really could carry.

Rogen plays Streisand's chemist son. After years working with the EPA, he has developed a wonderful, renewable, totally safe and effective home cleaning product and has invested everything into selling it to big retail establishments. He is, in fact, about to launch a cross-country road trip, starting in New Jersey in an effort to sell his product. It just so happens that his mother lives right there, so he spends a couple of days visiting her too. He feels bad that his mother is a bit lonely (she's been a widow for over 20 years), so he impulsively invites her to accompany him on his 8-day road trip. Hilarity ensues (or at least, it should).

Turns out Rogen is a terrible sales-person...and his pitch meetings with the corporate types are more pathetic than funny. He's so awkward and ill-prepared. It stretches credulity, especially when it's actually played fairly straight, rather than for broad laughs.

And it turns out that Streisand is quite annoying. Yes, she's annoying to her son with her constant chattering. Her steady mix of over-bearing mother and condescending critic. Yes, she's clearly a stereotypical "Jewish mother" and who better to play her? But it all begins to blend together as just so much noise in our heads, and probably that's the way Rogen hears it too!

The plot itself (will Rogen make a sale, will Streisand meet a guy) is quite predictable, and yields few surprises. BUT, if you saw the trailer, you likely are not expecting big surprises or innovation. The film doesn't need to surprise us.

The two stars do have some amusing exchanges...don't misunderstand me. Streisand does something outrageous and Rogen mumbles something under his breath that is amusing. But there are very few out-loud laughs to be had. The movie has a tough time finding a balance between its moments of near slapstick with its more serious encounters. There is a lot of pain and sadness that these two characters are burdened with, and this hangs like a weight around a movie that clearly wants to be light on its feet and even wacky.

It's possible to strike a balance like that (Apatow has done it numerous times and Rogen certainly can do it)...but THE GUILT TRIP misses out. But don't get me wrong...it is modestly entertaining and amusing, and while I can't recommend you run right out and see it, don't let it completely pass you by either. I should also say, at the risk of sounding like a fuddy-duddy, that it's probably going to be more amusing for fans of Barbra than for fans of Seth Rogen. Despite bursts of bad language, it has a decidedly old-fashioned feel to it that might equate to "too slow" for a generation more accustomed to the rhythms of THE HANGOVER.