1. The Guilt Trip (Paramount, 2431 screens, 95 minutes, Rated PG-13): Studios are always looking for a crossover hit – a movie that will appeal to more than one demographic so as to increase business at the box office. The pairing of Seth Rogen and Barbara Streisand looks like it was tailor made to appeal to both teens and their parents which sounds like a great idea as we all know how much teenagers just love to be seen out in public with their parents.
Anyway, Rogen stars as a struggling businessman who has to drive across country for an important, potentially life-changing meeting and his mother decides to tag along. Hopefully the film come ups with a reasonable explanation as to why he just doesn’t fly out to the west coast that is something a little better than “Well if he takes a plane we don’t have a movie.” Anyway, the pair get into a series of wacky adventures and mishaps and will probably learn something about each other and themselves along the way. The trailer makes the film look pretty formulaic but it should be noted that the original screenplay by Crazy Stupid Love writer Dan Fogelman for the film made the 2007 Black List under the title My Mother’s Curse, so there is hope that the film will surprise us. Of course, 2007 is a long enough time ago for a number of rewrites to have taken place, wearing down whatever edge the original screenplay may have had.
