User reviews

It is quite amazing that two great comedy talents like Billy Crystal and Bette Mitler would partake in this quite badly directed movie. Nothing felt real, logical, or authentic. All the comedy scenes were forced and quite unbelievable...people do not act that way or do things that way. The supporting players, especially Marisa Tomei, were annoying, All three kids were extremely bad actors. Tom Everett Sckott added nothing to the film.I laughed, and/or smiled only about three times during the entire movie. This is truly a situation where I would like to say "Shame on you, Billy Crystal and Bette Mitler, for doing this bomb!"

This is truly one of the most awful pieces of trash ever made.

How do I summarize this? I don't - it's awful.

The plot is utterly predictable, the acting awful, the (otherwise talented) cast horribly misused, and the whole exercise is pointless. On the upside... there simply is no upside. This movie has no redeeming features.

I endured this movie simply because I have never walked out on a movie ever. But it was an act of will power not to walk out on this rubbish.

How this utter bilge could score 5.8 out of 10 brings IMDb's rating system into utter disrepute.

Some reviewers have clicked the button to warn readers that their review may contain spoilers. How can you spoil this movie? The only thing that spoiled it for me was that the theater in which I viewed it had very loud sound so I was unable to get to sleep.

The premise of the movie, as is so often the case, is that love will conquer all. This is a love that is conjured at the flick of a phone call. Grandparents and grandkids hate each other (Guys, guys, I've a great idea... let's call the grandfather Arty so that the rascal kid can call him Farty, guffaw) but within instants of arrival the grandparents are hooked on their grandkids. And, of course, by the end, they have attained mystical healing powers so that, despite their total incompetence, the family is whole and wonderful by the time the credits roll.

It's not funny, it's not clever, it's not watchable. It is Farty.

Give me back the hour and half u stole totally Sucks

What I got from this film? Say NO to your kids occasionally. If you don't , then don't act surprised when no-one wants them around. That's about it, really .

Hello!

First off, I would like to say that EVERY potential film director and script writer should watch this film...

...they should watch this film to learn EVERY POSSIBLE mistake that you can make in writing and filming a family oriented movie.

Don't get me wrong, I like Billy Crystal, Bette Midler, and Marisa Tomei, the three principal actors, quite a bit. Billy Crystal's small performance in "The Princess Bride" as Miracle Max, is hilarious, and one of the high points of the movie. There are a number of other movies that they have done solid, good work in.

Unfortunately, though, this film wasn't one of them.

Billy Crystal would seem to be most at fault here. He is listed as one of the "Producers", so presumably he had some control over the final script. How he let this script abomination get to the filming stage, is beyond me. He made this film at the age of 64, and I would say this turkey has just about tanked his fading film career; and he has taken Bette Midler and Marisa Tomei along with him.

The characters in this film act like sub-grade morons, and somehow manage to insult just about every age group there is. In itself, this would actually appear to be a minor achievement, as I don't remember ANY other movie that I have seen, actually insult so many age groups in a single movie.

If you have seen other family movies, don't worry, EVERY BAD cliché you have EVER seen about families, is in this movie. They have neatly collected them all together, for your viewing displeasure, so you don't have to watch dozens of other bad family movies, to see them all.

For a comedy, you might call it "comedy light" or "comedy free", as there were virtually NO funny moments, or laughs over the entire movie.

In the end credits of the movie, they said that 14,000 jobs were created by this movie, with over 600,000 man hours spent in the production.

WHERE did all this time and effort supposedly GO? This movie was worse than even an average made-for-TV, very low budget, family production.

600,000 hours to make this God awful STINKER? GEEZ! It staggers the imagination! Frankly, if I were involved with the production of this stinking pile of you-know-what, I WOULDN'T plaster my face all over the end credits, as they did with the actors, their families, and the production staff, and their families, in this movie.

I'd wear a paper bag over my head, instead, and pretend that I had nothing what-so-ever to do with this movie.

The script is SO, BAD, BAD, BAD, that it is a little difficult to figure how bad the acting was. Billy Crystal, Bette Midler, and Marisa Tomei were obviously NOT in top form, however, the dialogue was so reekingly BAD, that it was difficult to tell how much was bad acting, and how much was the terrible script.

I pardon Bette Midler a bit, here. Even though she was listed second in the credits, she was given virtually nothing of importance to do in the movie. I expected some hilarious moments between her and Billy Crystal, but there were virtually NO humorous moments between them.

Andy Fickman, as director, deserves more than a few barbs, here. Billy Crystal, Bette Midler, and Marisa Tomei are decent actors, but it sure wasn't obvious from this movie. I would say Andy Fickman was instrumental in the reekingly BAD quality of this movie.

Run, don't walk, as far away from this stinking pile of... "film", as possible.

My 2¢ worth.

Karl

Billy Crystal's movie career has been hit or miss. Alright, mostly miss. Too bad there's no three strike rule in Hollywood. (Although why Crystal never had a TV show, where his lovable cozy charm might work, I don't know.) Here his talents are wasted. It's painfully bad. Blame the writing. This movie isn't the worst I've ever sat through. I mean, it's no 'Jerry'. But it's bad. If you have a ten minute rule about watching movies then you might want to consider having a five minute rule. But frankly, this doesn't pass the smell test after one minute. They keep selling it as a family movie. Maybe the family from 'Honey Boo Boo' but for anyone else it's a stinker.

Oh those darn new fangled people with their new age parenting and their high tech computer machines. What we need is a good old fashioned comedy hack and a has been (who needs to sing in every movie) to show us the old ways. I'll bet that in the process we will learn some life lessons and solve everyone's problems, by the end those crazy old ways might not seem so crazy eh?

I tried to change the channel when this came on. But it's like trying to ignore a rodeo entirely comprised of midgets and miniature horses. You want to stop and you feel guilty...but part of you wonders where they make the tiny leather chaps, and how Billy Crystal is allowed to breathe air and make movies after "Analyze That"

That being said. Billy you are forgiven for two reasons. The first is a small part in one of the best movies ever made (it involves a princess, a giant named Andre, and a revenge obsessed spaniard who is not left handed). And the second is... well.....City Slickers. I know it's bad but god is it good.

In summary, I have never left a movie review before in my life. But for some reason I felt the need to get this information out there. You may be one of the people who enjoy this movie and in that case please disregard this review. On the other hand you may be under the age of sixty, and have an iq higher than a bowl of soup. In that case... press play, take four valium, drink a bottle of gin, and take a bite of a big shotgun sandwich.