Review of The Year My Parents Went on Vacation (2006) by Richard S — 25 Jul 2008

This may be stereotypical Oscar bait, but it's slightly better than your average entry in the "genre". Yes, it has cute kids, elderly protagonists, a semi-exotic setting, coming of age cliches, religious culture clash and political overtones, but there's less sentimentality and the "important" aspects aren't shoved in your face.

At least not as much as they could be. It's full of poetic poverty and is hardly the exercise in cinema verite that a few reviewers painted it. In fact, it spends more time celebrating the universality of the World Cup than it does developing any of the characters.

Despite all of this, it's modestly entertaining and introduces the world to a sure to be star in the neighborhood tomboy Daniela Piepszyk. Just wait a few years. She'll be outshining not-so-young-Hollywood.