'THE GUILT TRIP'

'THE GUILT TRIP' (PG-13) (3 STARS)

Written by Dan Fogelman
Directed by Anne Fletcher
Actors: Barbra Streisand, Seth Rogen, Brent Cullen, Adam Scott, Ari Graynor, Kathy Najimy, Miriam Margolyes.

There is nothing sweeter than the love between a mother and her son! I know that sounds maudlin and lame but it is very true. I thought "The Guilt Trip" would be lame also and very cloying or just a waste of time. It turns out that "The Guilt Trip" is a nice, fun, sweet (without being cloying) and funny comedy. It knows how to relax and just tell us a simple story of a mother and her son. It is a road trip movie and sometimes those can be a pain i.e. "Due Date". "The Guilt Trip" has some nice scenery and location work and a role for and performance by Barbra Streisand who has been off the screen for 16 years. Back then she was in a dramatic movie and I want to see the comedic version of Streisand and this role for her is a great one.

Streisand made some very funny comedies back in her heyday like "What's Up Doc" and "The Main Event". We know the muscial version of Barbra very well but we forget how great she is with comedy. She has a perfectly cast co star in Seth Rogen as Streisand and Rogen play mother and son Joyce and Andrew. Andrew is a smart kid who has invented a safe kitchen/bathroom cleaner made from natural resources. Andrew has to go on a cross country trip to try to sell this cleaner to major companies from New York to Vegas. In a plot development I won't spoil here Andrew feels he has to ask his mother to accompany him on this eight day trip. Andrew and Joyce seem like a normal mother and son and yes Joyce may come off as a nag to him. Credit the writer here Dan Fogelman, who wrote the sweet and wonderful "Dan In Real Life", for not making Joyce a walking cliche.

The laughs attributed to this strained relationship come off naturally, the writing is natural and not forced. Streisand is a delight and Rogen blends in nicely with Streisand and after a while we do believe they are mother and son. This movie could have gone so wrong so easily but the screenplay here is truly funny and sweet. This is not a real gut buster but I laughed many times throughout. I am really happy that Streisand was given this movie to star in. Jane Fonda is another actress who made a comeback and I missed her also. The difference is that Fonda has been given some very weak material to work with. Maybe Streisand and Fonda can do a buddy comedy sometime? Or maybe Barbra can give Fonda her agent's number. Anybody up for a "Nine To Five" sequel with Barbra, Jane, Dolly and Lily? Hmmmm.

There are some scenes here that could have been depicted as cruel and cheap including a strip club scene, a steakhouse scene and the Vegas material. That stuff is actually cleverly written, tasteful and funny. The movie does get sentimental but it is a nice sentimental instead of an obvious, strained sentimental. Streisand and Rogen work so beautifully together and they are both sweet and very funny together. There are surprises in the story but they are smart and very well earned. This is a perfect movie for sons to take their mothers to. It is tasteful, very funny, sweet and captivating. It is a relaxing time at the movies that will make you smile all the way home.