The problem with Parents is it reveals its 'secret' far too early. At the start, despite acting like a perfect 50's family, we can already see Randy Quaid and his wife Mary Beth Hurt are a pair of weirdoes who talk funny, act far too nice and eat virtually nothing but disgusting, bloody meat. Then, a few scenes later, we find out from their son they slaughter household pets to maintain their feeding frenzy, not to mention Quaid's trip to a mortuary to stock up on fresh supplies...
So, seeing as it's made very clear from the beginning this psychotic couple are a pair of cannibals, where else is the movie left to go? Could it on focusing the juxtaposition of their 'nice' behaviour to their morally bankrupt actions? Yes, very funny, ha ha... that joke gets old after five minutes tops. Perhaps we could see more of their unlucky son's budding relationship with an older girl in his class who isn't mentally deranged? Nice try, but she's only in it for a little while before being written out... then it's back to weak social satire and close-ups of gory body parts being cooked. Hurray!
Wouldn't it be so much more fun if Quaid and Beth Hurt went around the neighbourhood themselves, killing people to make their Sunday barbecue? At least then, we'd get a bit of excitement instead of the indescribably dull talkfest we have instead. One predictable moment follows another, until we get to the ending... which is also very easily foretold. Snore.
Someone more capable please remake this film, and hire a better writer too. We have the germ of a good idea here. Now all we need is some adults to take the tools and produce something halfway decent. Not too difficult, surely? 3/10
So, seeing as it's made very clear from the beginning this psychotic couple are a pair of cannibals, where else is the movie left to go? Could it on focusing the juxtaposition of their 'nice' behaviour to their morally bankrupt actions? Yes, very funny, ha ha... that joke gets old after five minutes tops. Perhaps we could see more of their unlucky son's budding relationship with an older girl in his class who isn't mentally deranged? Nice try, but she's only in it for a little while before being written out... then it's back to weak social satire and close-ups of gory body parts being cooked. Hurray!
Wouldn't it be so much more fun if Quaid and Beth Hurt went around the neighbourhood themselves, killing people to make their Sunday barbecue? At least then, we'd get a bit of excitement instead of the indescribably dull talkfest we have instead. One predictable moment follows another, until we get to the ending... which is also very easily foretold. Snore.
Someone more capable please remake this film, and hire a better writer too. We have the germ of a good idea here. Now all we need is some adults to take the tools and produce something halfway decent. Not too difficult, surely? 3/10