Movies
The Daytrippers
A pleasant outing in a Buick station wagon, comfortably seating five: Mom, Dad, Sis and her boyfriend, and the suspicious wife who, on the day after Thanksgiving, has discovered a cryptic note to her husband, quoting an Andrew Marvell love poem and signed "Sandy." What is the meaning of this? The complications, as the assembled posse attempts to track down the errant husband in Manhattan, are plausible enough to be entertaining rather than merely exasperating. The car heater breaks down; Mom collapses on the street after a block of high-speed pursuit on foot ("Don't go into the light, Mom!"), and is taken in by strangers to recuperate. And so forth. The major weakness of writer-director Greg Mottola's first feature film -- his scrambling, jockeying, pseudodocumentary camera is but a minor one -- is the overshadowing of the heroine by any and every other character, however marginal and transient, who comes into view. The supposed central situation of the movie cannot hold its rightful place. These other characters, though, keep us from dwelling overmuch on the matter. Hope Davis, Anne Meara, Liev Schreiber, Parker Posey, Pat McNamara, Campbell Scott, Stanley Tucci, Marcia Gay Harden. 1997.
Reader Rating:
MPAA Rating: R