Pluskylang Great Film overall

Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Sintz49 I was surprised to see that the IMDB collective viewer rating wasn't lower; but even more surprised that most of the written reviews were high. I caught this film on cable tv, late at night, and gave it a look. Though Beth-Williams "Natalie's" and O'Neill's "Dutch" were presented as caring for each other, it was not really shared with us, except as a contrasted to the awful ex-husband's connection. I stayed tuned in, in expectation for more evidence of closeness and growth for them. Next up, the meeting of Dutch and Doyle, the son, was violent, but was presented as "comedy". As the meanness continued, I kept thinking that Dutch might later surprise me, and being the "adult", he'd learn more, and share that with the boy. Or, maybe the boy would inadvertently share his own buried softer side with Dutch, who'd then grow and share. I doubted Doyle could learn anything from Dutch's rampaging self-indulgence. If Dutch did grow more selfless and caring, I only saw it in a few occasionally warmer smiles (not those other glaring smiles he pushed onto Doyle). I welcomed the scene where Dutch tried to entertain Doyle with a private fireworks display. In this scene, the camera work seemed disconnected: it showed Dutch smiling, as in trying to get the kid to laugh along, too; but the jump cuts to the car then showed Doyle only looking at the dashboard. Yes, he looked at and liked the lights, but (based on the camera work) only when Doyle was being distracted by them too . I drew back, into my hope-wait-and-see posture. As Doyle and Dutch began to fall into a shared predicament, and were stranded out in the cold, I felt they might finally draw closer. Then, in a scene at a shelter for homeless folks, Doyle warmed up inside, making a kind gesture to one of the children. The child's mother (played so well, tho' very briefly, by L. Scott Caldwell) responded very lovingly to Doyle before he slept, and I thought the uplifting changes I'd hoped for him (and for Dutch) would finally kick in. It really never seemed to though. The ending prompted me to imagine a sequel. That 2nd movie would pick up after this film's final moment. In it, Dutch's JOY in inflicting some new pain on Doyle, would be responded to appropriately by his mother. Probably not a comedy this time. Overall, Natalie, and Dutch showed no signs to me of being close in any way. They may have each wanted some "good" things, but probably not the same things. At least Dutch got the son home. But Doyle's love of mom may have been discovered as a judgmental response to Dutch's behavior, and not really as a credit to Dutch's "help". Very few laughs for me.

Scott LeBrun Yes, John Hughes, the writer and co-producer of this thing, may be clearly recycling "Planes, Trains & Automobiles" to a degree, but this variation still works due to entertaining and endearing characters, and some very good moments along the way. Ed O'Neill is a hoot in the lead role of "Dutch" Dooley, an amiable working class lug dating Natalie Standish (JoBeth Williams), who married into the upper class. Natalie's got a son named Doyle (Ethan Embry, then still using his birth name Ethan Randall) enrolled in a far away prep school, and the kid is a stuck up, insufferable brat with a contempt and hatred for practically the whole world. So the tension is there from the beginning when agreeable Dutch volunteers to drive the kid home to Chicago in time for Thanksgiving. He hates Dutchs' guts at first, but it goes without saying that the journey is going to change not only his opinion of the man but the way he views things. Assorted episodes include Dutch setting off firecrackers in a field, an automobile mishap, Dutch & Doyle hitching a ride with a pair of seemingly benevolent hookers (Ari Meyers, Elizabeth Daily), and the films' highlight, a scene in a homeless shelter. Some of the humour comes from taking a refined individual out of his element as Doyle is obliged to order food at a diner and later is overly neat with his utensils at the shelter (prompting Dutch to come up with the quip, "Would you like to see a wine list?"). Doyle comes to realize that there are good people in the world from all walks of life, and lets go of that pent-up hostility, while also learning the hard truth about his undependable father Reed (Christopher McDonald, once again playing a jerk to perfection). O'Neill and Embry prove to be a good team as we wait for the kids' icy exterior to start melting; Dutch is a basically good, honest, and straightforward man who also helps Doyle finally find the child inside. Lovely scenery from various U.S. locations - in Tennessee, Illinois, and Georgia - is a big plus, as well as Alan Silvestris' music. All in all, this is an appealing road comedy that does deserve a place as a seasonal favourite. Seven out of 10.

MrDoo That's what this movie is all about. Yeah.1. Young Ethan Embry. Adorable.2. Young Ed O'Neill. Adorabler.3. The chick who does thirty thousand cartoon voices playing a prostitute. Magical.5. Rose from Lost appearing at a shelter for like 2 seconds and then giving Ed and Ethan a ride. That was nice.4. I was just checking how well you can count.6. I always wanted a deck of those playing cards. Not because I'm a pervert but because of the song that plays when you slowly reveal them.7. In the end however, I must admit this was probably mostly a nostalgia movie, for me. You'll either like it or dislike it, because...really there's not much else you could do, you COULD be somewhere in between, or you could like it on Tuesdays through Fridays and hate it the rest of the week but, that's just ridiculous.

policy134 First there was Ed O'Neill the dramatic actor, then the comedian and now the star. O'Neill has had a tough time finding new roles that aren't connected with Al Bundy in some way. If you saw the E! True Hollywood Story on MWC you'd know that his scenes were actually re-shot with another actor because the audience couldn't stop saying: "That's Al Bundy!". Here he does an admirable job with basically a decent character but still a few traces of the madness of Bundy. The kid, played by Ethan Randall (Or Embry, whatever) is the most snotty little brat I have ever seen in a movie and according to the trailer he's supposed to be like Bart Simpson. Not true. Bart Simpson occasionally got out of hand but he was kind of decent underneath. Not so with this kid. He is totally rotten and the 180 degree turn he makes at the end is totally unbelievable. He doesn't even seem to care that he almost kills a truck driver at one point. That scene is followed by a slap-sticky fight that tries to imitate the prattfalls of the two burglars in "Home Alone". That undermines the seriousness which have gone before in my opinion.The boy's parents, played by JoBeth Williams and Chris McDonald are only incidental so we don't really know anything about them except that the dad is even meaner than the kid. Because he is so mean, we are supposed to feel sorry for the kid but for that to happen we must first sympathize with him. I couldn't because he is so smarmy all through that the transformation he is supposed to have seems phony. And it's not like some viewers have commented that he needs love. His mother is basically a loving mother. The whole film is about who breaks down first, Dutch or the kid.In Denmark the movie was released under the title "Driving me Crazy" and that is pretty much a description of my state of mind when I watched it. The only reason to see it is because of O'Neill. If you want to see Embry in a more positive light, check out him and O'Neill in the new "Dragnet". You could even tolerate him in "Vegas Vacation" but that was a stinker for another reason. To close I will say that I would like to see O'Neill in the type of role he had on "The Spanish Prisoner". He only had a small part but he made a big impression. His performance here is good but he is undermined by the weakness of the story.