THE GUILT TRIP
US, 2012, 96 minutes, Colour.
Barbra Streisand, Seth Rogen, Miriam Margolyes, Kathy Najimy, Colin Hanks, Brett Cullen.
Directed by Anne Fletcher
If you were told that there was a road film where mother, Barbra Streisand, traveled across the United States with her son, Seth Rogen, and you started to imagine what it might be like, you would probably be quite right and The Guilt Trip is more or less what might be expected.
Not that it is not entertaining even if it is predictable. It is the two stars playing off each other that makes it enjoyable.
For Barbra Streisand fans, it is a welcome return to the screen with only some cameos in the Meet the Focker series in the last fifteen years. And, no, she doesn’t sing. But she does do what she was also very good at: comedy. Years ago, with such films as What’s Up Doc and The Main Event (even her portrayal of Fanny Brice in Funny Girl), some critics said that she was not so much a comedienne but that she was a funny clown. So, here she is at the age of 70 clowning around as a somewhat possessive Jewish mother bouncing off Seth Rogen in his comic sad-sack screen persona.
He is a chemist, Andrew, who has invented a natural cleaner from coconut oil, palm oil and soy, but he is a dead loss when trying to do a pitch to executives to distribute his brand ‘Scioclean’. She is Joyce, a longtime widow who likes shopping at The Gap and chatting with friends (Miriam Margolyes and Kathy Najimy in momentary appearances).
Off mother and son go across the US, she on the lookout for bargains, chattering away, driving Andrew mad. She has told him where his name comes from and he has a bright idea to take her to meet an old beau from before the time she was married. He is also delivering his pitches – and losing his audiences.
They squabble, they make up. She seeks out one of Andrew’s old girlfriends. They go to a Texan steakhouse where she wins the prize of devouring a 50 ounce steak and trimmings within an hour. She falls in love with the slot machines at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. Andrew takes her advice and personalises his pitch with positive results. The San Francisco episode is what you may have guessed, but there is a nice touch at the end.
Probably forgettable, but pleasant while it is there. In the final credits, the writer, Dan Fogelman, dedicates his film to his mother – Joyce!
1. Entertaining? Mother-son relationships? Jewish background? Guilt?
2. A road trip: New York City, Virginia, snowing Tennessee, Texas steak house, Abilene, Las Vegas and Caesar’s Palace, San Francisco? The contemporary United States? The range of songs?
3. Portrait of Andrew: Seth Rogen, age, large, spectacles, chemist, his speech to the companies, nervous, his losing his listeners, his display, coconuts, palm oil, soy? His mother and her frequent calls? His deleting them? Tolerant, going to New York City, the Airport, his loud mother, Anita and her friends for dinner, the conversation focus on him, his mother watching home movies, his touches of tenderness? The Singles’ evening, hearing the story about his name and its origin? Searching the Internet, finding the reference to Andrew, the phone call, proposing to visit? Discussing the trip, packing, the rental car, his mother wanting bargains, her driving, his hopes? The experience of the trip, her fussiness, driving, bargains, the arguments, angry with her, her advice about his pitches, the television pitch and his changing, personal and the responses?
4. The portrait of Joyce? Barbra Streisand? Joyce’s age, energy, leaving messages for Andrew, her life alone since the death of her husband, noisy at the airport, calling out, the meal, her friends, chatting about Andrew and his problems? Not wanting to go to the Singles evening, her going, alone, bored? Telling Andrew about his name? The proposal to travel? The hotel, with Andrew before his interviews, playing the games, disturbing him? Her confidence in his success? The room, the bargains with the room, the car, the Breekfast? Talking about Jessica? Ringing Anita for advice? The snow, her phone call, staying with Jessica, discovering that she was married, pregnant? The visit to the strip joint? The stripper and her skill in getting rid of the ice on the car? Joyce and her concern about the cold? Her theory about hitchhikers, rapists? In Texas, the food bargain, the hour to eat the 50 ounce steak? Ben and his advice, her achievement? Her ideas for Andrew’s presentation? Down to earth language? Practical ideas? The attraction of Las Vegas, the machines, the emblems of the frogs, the free drinks? Her spending the night at the machines? The harsh words between Andrew and Joyce? Making up? Hearing the news about Andrew and San Francisco, upset, the decision to go? Watching Andrew’s speech on the television, encouraging him, his drinking the cleaner?
5. San Francisco, finding Andrew’s house, meeting the son, his welcoming them in, his father’s death, the arrival of his sister, her name being Joyce? Joyce being so happy? Andrew and still remembering her?
6. The effect of the trip on Andrew, and Joyce, changes, his mellowing, not being so much the academic, she being more understanding?
7. A pleasing story, difficulties and reconciliations? Mothers and sons?
