Sometimes your in a mood for something not very demanding, and for me The Guilt Trip fit that bill. A mother son, road trip, buddy comedy with Seth Rogan and Barbara Streisand as the leads. Rogan is a young bio chemist who has quit his job at the EPA and invested most everything he has in a new environmentally safe cleaning solution he invented, which he calls Scioclean and which for some reason most everybody has a real hard time pronouncing (Sci-O-Clean), this is suppose to be funny, though its really not that funny. Anyway Rogan flys out from his home in California to visit his very Jewish mother in New Jersey before embarking on a cross country trip to try and sell his product to various retailers, including Kmart, Costco, the Home Shopping Network, and other companies presumably desiring of a cinematic plug. Before departing from Jersey however Rogan's overbearing mother confesses to him that he was named Andy after her former lover, from before she met his now deceased father. Anyway Rogan gets curious and through the power of Google decides to look mom's old flam up, he quickly discovers that the man appears to be alive, well and single in San Fransisco, and helpfully working for a major advertising company. Rogan then decides to invite his mom along on the road trip with him, hilarity ensues, okay more like largely predictable amusement, but hey I wasn't in a picky mood.
Mother and son travel cross country in a compact car, listen to the novel Middlesex on tap, a recurring joke, and one gets increasingly on the nerves of the other, guess which? Anyway its predictable, but comfortingly so. I will readily admit this movie is not very creative, its rather obvious really, but its exceptionally well crafted in a journeyman carpenter kind of way. It has a balanced screen play, it hums along, hits it predictable marks, the directions is capable, the supporting cast is good, and there's a surprisingly satisfying emotional arc. What carries the film though is of course the performances of Rogan and Streisand, they a very likable, have good chemistry, and elevate the material from C to B level. Streisand finds out the fate of her former lover, and Rogan finally figures out how to use humor (surprise) to actually sell his product, its all mildly heartwarming. Anyway I'm going to part with the critics and say this movie is everything it could have possible been, not ambitious, but well fulfilling its potential. A little bit of guilty pleasure. **1/2
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