YOURS, MINE AND OURS

US, 2005, 90 minutes, Colour.
Dennis Quaid, Rene Russo.
Directed by Raja Gosnel.

The first year I was reviewing films, one of the popular comedies of the year was Yours, Mine and Ours. The title referred to eighteen children (cheaper by the dozen and a half!!). This was the aftermath of The Sound of Music with the Trapp Family children, their stern militaristic father and the vivacious governess – and how they conspired to get rid of her at first but who charmed them all, and their father. Come to think of it Mary Poppins, children, parents and governesses was a bit in the same vein. It must have been a feeling of fighting back in the permissive 1960s.

But, here it is again, in times when families are very much smaller. A message? The film has been strongly endorsed by devout and proselytising Christian groups in the US. Be that as it may, this is a piece of light American comedy, lots of slapstick and mess, with a message that love can overcome all things and that peace, even amongst straight-laced and free spirited children is possible and desirable.

In the first film, Henry Fonda was the stern father and Lucille Ball the free mother. They were big stars and the film was popular. Dennis Quaid seems to young to be an Admiral but he is a good actor and, while allowing himself to be the frequent victim of pranks, falling into the sea, into supermarket liquid, splashed with paint, he carries of the discipline and orders side of things well. Rene Russo is a serious actress compared with the comedy style of Lucille Ball. She looks as if she really could handle her ten children (four her own and six fostered and then adopted).

Most of the film is about the incompatibility of the children, their devices to break up the marriage but, of course, their final resolutions to become ‘ours’ instead of yours and mine. Any audience prone to crankiness with children and rowdy comedy should seek shelter elsewhere.

1.The popular film of the 1960s? Remade for the 21st century? A film of the 60s and its interest in family? 21st century and family? A piece of Americana? Based on a true story?

2.Audience response to themes of large families, adoption?

3.The Connecticut setting, New London, the navy headquarters? Homes, the lighthouse, the ships? Scenes at sea? School? A setting for the big family to live in?

4.The theme of strictness versus freedom? Discipline and creativity? The clash of the two? Complementing each other? The emphasis on military style and order, orders? The contrast with Flower Power and seeming permissiveness?

5.The Beardsley family: the dead mother, Frank and his navy career, love for his wife and his memories of her? Their moving, the line-up of the children, their attitudes? Their not wanting to move? Planning for school? Going on the sailing boat? Calling their father Admiral? Setting up the house?

6.The contrast with the Norths, Helen and her creative skills, the visit of the dealer? Her bags? The range of children, the details of mayhem in the house, her letting them roam free, operating on cooperation? Adoption, the racial mix?

7.Frank and Daryl, Daryl setting him up with the date, the awkwardness of the date, the fact that it was Daryl’s ex-wife? Helen and her arrival with her business partner? The slapstick mishaps? The meeting, their talking, remembering the past? At home, the memories, Helen looking at the year book?

8.The reunion, their both deciding to go, meeting each other, falling in love? The film not explaining why they didn’t marry in the first place? The decision to marry, but not telling the children? The children all wanting their parents to date – but dismay at the announcement of the marriage?

9.The North family moving, disliking the Beardsley children, the clashes, each being mean to the other? The contrasts? Upsetting their parents, their concocting the plan to break up the marriage?

10.Frank, the yacht and his falling into the sea, the pratfalls in the supermarket, his wanting order in his room and bathroom, the issue of spanking children…? The different views?

11.Helen and the bags, getting the contract? Her room and its untidiness? The children tidying it up? The issue of discipline and spanking?

12.Helen and Frank and the continued clashes, separate beds? Yet the tender scene in the lighthouse and the talk about the light?

13.The picture of the children, the young boys getting together and sharing? The election of William and their all collaborating, his success? The bullies and their teaming together? The girls and the boy at the party, his being a two-timer? The girls banding together?

14.Frank, the discussions with the admiral, the proposal of the job, its attractiveness, his wanting to say yes but for the sake of the children saying no?

15.The parents being absent, the decision about the party, the crowds of young people coming, the mess, their returning home, the stern reaction?

16.The confession about the plan to break up the marriage? Helen and her going to the lighthouse and sending a signal? Frank on board ship, the children coming on the yacht to bring him home again? The happy ending – and the future for such a big family and their life together?