Yours, Mine and Ours Review
by Steve Rhodes (Steve DOT Rhodes AT InternetReviews DOT com)November 21st, 2005
YOURS, MINE AND OURS
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 2005 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): *
Gag. I'm here to report that YOURS, MINE AND OURS isn't as bad as you probably feared it might be. It's worse. Much worse. By SCOOBY-DOO's director Raja Gosnell, this remake of the 1968 film, which starred Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda, is nothing but shrill and frantic slapstick. Watching it, you'll swear Gosnell had all of his actors running on a treadmill while he yelled at them to scream louder and run faster. He also must have had a clock on the set that went off every three minutes to remind the actors that it was time for another pratfall. At one point during the movie, I put my fingers in my ears in order to attempt to save my hearing.
The parents this time are played, actually overplayed by Rene Russo and Dennis Quaid. As Helen North, Russo is a New Age thinker accustomed to running a rule-free house. Other than having to hold the "talking stick" during family conferences in order to express an opinion, her kids are free spirits who are permitted, nay encouraged, to do absolutely anything their heart desires, including spray-painting graffiti on their walls. Her family of ten, by extensive use of adoption, looks like an a diversity poster since she appears to have just about every race on earth.
In contrast, Frank Beardsley (Quaid) is a by-the-book Admiral, who has recently taken the position as head of the United States Coast Guard Academy. His eight children, who call him Admiral, wholeheartedly say, "Aye, Aye Sir," to his long list of rules and commands. In short, his family life is as over structured and organized as Helen's is a complete mess. Of course, none of their kids are truly rebellious or get into any trouble.
Before you can blink an eye, Helen and Frank, a widow and a widower who used to date in high school, have met each other and gotten married. They fall back in love at a black-tie dance aboard a fancy cruise ship that their high school class has chartered for their 30th reunion. Boy, their high school must have been a whole lot richer than most people's. Even harder to believe is that, before they even told any of their brood that they were dating, they got married. Right!
Once married, the movie goes to the center stage, set in a lighthouse that will be their home. On the stage, the director features all kinds of entertainment for our amusement from food fights to paint fights to water fights to miscellaneous mayhem. Typical of the movie's scenes is the one of the breakfast table, where the eighteen kids and one large pig gorge themselves like animals.
"That was a disaster," Helen tells Frank at one point. And so is the movie. I repeat. Gag.
YOURS, MINE AND OURS runs 1:30. It is rated PG for "some mild crude humor" and would be acceptable for kids around 10 and up given the very long scene featuring underage drinking.
The film opens nationwide in the United States on Wednesday, November 23, 2005. In the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the AMC theaters, the Century theaters and the Camera Cinemas.
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Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
