Rating: 
Summary: Someone Made a Movie About My Family?
Review: The set up isn't quite right for my family. I think the names and details have been changed to protect the innocent. This is a great movie. I found it so realistic, yet, not just a slice of life. I loved the characters. But then, I felt they were based on my own slightly dysfunctional family.
Rating: 
Summary: Trips Galore
Review: The title for this movie is very apt for more than one reason. One is that this movie is literally about a family (plus one daughter's boyfriend) which takes a DAY TRIP into the city (NYC, we are led to assume) to investigate a familial concern. The other reason is something rather inherent in the movie - that in many instances, more than one thing is meant by many sayings and gestures in the movie - it is a film that consistently plays on ambiguities. Literally, this family throughout the whole day is "tripping" around - discovering strange things about its various members, discovering strange things in its journey, etc. Meet the Malones: Jim Malone, the father (rather laid back and subdued and warmhearted) who suffers at the domineering tyranny of his wife, the acerbic and biting Rita (played very well and VERY hilariously by Anne Meara, a comic actress of no small talent) who is openly disapproving and derisive of her younger daughter Jo, (played by Parker Posey in probably the best movie she's ever starred in) a college girl who is rather rebellious drinking straight out of the family orange juice and Coca-Cola bottles, who has a red streak in her hair and is the girlfriend of Karl (Liev Schreiber), a miseducated but somewhat decent intellectual who is also sadly the butt of the screenwriter's sophisticated, subtle jokes. Also in the family is Eliza (Hope Davis), the eldest daughter. It is when she, who as a married adult (to Louis D'Amico, played by Stanley Tucci, a literary agent) discovers in her morning cleaning duties an article which she thinks is a love note either to or from her husband that the actions and events originate. She remains skeptical about the note; it is her nosy, pushy mother who directs the action and the investigation. I find this a highly original and hilarious film. The characterizations are excellent and the acting is dead-on in all cases. The script is wonderful. It is one of those scripts where the the writer keeps 'winking' at the audience to let them know what's REALLY going down with some of the characters (a fairly decent understanding of English literary history, in particular, helps here). Many critics call this film 'uneven' in that it begins as a comedy, but shifts into a more serious, 'darker' mode later on in the film. But why limit such a highly evolved movie to strict genre quibbles and mere categorization? Life is certainly more than a daily comedy or daily drama. Sometimes it's a strange and even harrowing mixture of both. And that's what makes this movie even better - it take a day out of a family's life, and with a clever, hilarious script and keen acting, it shows how much can go on and go wrong within the course of an unpredictable day.
Rating:
Summary: Great story, great actors
Review: This is one of the greatest indie flicks of the late 1990's. Clever comedy in independent movies don't come close to Daytrippers, except maybe Schitzopolis. No violence, no sex; Great dialogue, awesome script, unbeatable cast! You must take a look at who is in this film - which proves once again that a great script attracts great talent, as much as money does. Although this movie really great acting, the reason this is one of my favorite movies is for the script. It's clean, fresh and very funny. It's about a family (three couples of different generations ranging from suburb mid-class parents, to married older sister and husband, to college-student younger sister and her boyfriend) and their daytrip to NYC to find the married sister's husband who they suspect may be cheating on her. As the story travels through strange and fateful events, each couple's relationship reaches a moment of revelation, as well as the sisters' relationships with their parents. Though most of the script is funny, the story is wrapped in a quest for a potential disappointment of finding out if the husband is cheating. If we were to send a DVD in outer space for stupid grey aliens to find, it should be this one! This movie transcends human emotion with sobering tact! A highly enjoyable movie!
Rating:
Summary: A Collection Classic
Review: Viewers expecting raucous laughs, and slapstick humor will be terribly disappointed with this film. The Daytrippers' humor lies in the nuances of the realistic characters, the subtly sarcastic dialogue, and the film's overall quiet resolve despite the ridiculous situation presented. Lovers of "Seinfeld" (like myself) will watch this movie again and again...
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