About fifteen minutes into this road movie it dawned on me to change my expectations. With Seth Rogen in the lead and being mindful of his back catalogue I was expecting a more raucous affair.
Rogen is Andrew Brewster inventor of an eco-friendly cleaning product. Brewster is virtually broke and with his last few dollars is about to travel east coast to west coast, pitching his product on route to various conglomerates. Our co-pilot on the road trip is Barbra Streisand playing Andy's widowed mum Joyce a stereotypical Jewish mom. This she does well, it would have been easy to be completely OTT and annoying in the role but to Streisand's credit she keeps a lid on it.
The movie begins when Joyce tells Andy the story of how he is named after her first love who ultimately rejected her, to which she settles for second best with Andy's father. Andy traces his namesake down via Google to a company in San Francisco, and decides to invite mum on his business trip so as to reunite them; without telling her.
With the set-up established I settled in waiting for the hilarity involving drunkenness, sex, drugs, fights etc. to ensue. This is after all a Seth Rogen flick. Instead we are treated to a quieter, more gentle, and thoughtful comedy drama were the sauciest scene involves Streisand tackling a four pound lump of meat ( a steak that is).
The interplay between the two leads feels very natural and you believe in their relationship. The script kept me involved throughout, but there were too few laughs for me. I could envisage this produced by BBC 1 as a Sunday evening one off starring Julie Walters and Rob Brydon (I'll never be a casting director). And I dare say it would be very entertaining.
If you enter the theatre with the right frame of mind (take a packet of Werther's originals) I think you will be rewarded more than I, it will be worth taking the bus for.
Rogen is Andrew Brewster inventor of an eco-friendly cleaning product. Brewster is virtually broke and with his last few dollars is about to travel east coast to west coast, pitching his product on route to various conglomerates. Our co-pilot on the road trip is Barbra Streisand playing Andy's widowed mum Joyce a stereotypical Jewish mom. This she does well, it would have been easy to be completely OTT and annoying in the role but to Streisand's credit she keeps a lid on it.
The movie begins when Joyce tells Andy the story of how he is named after her first love who ultimately rejected her, to which she settles for second best with Andy's father. Andy traces his namesake down via Google to a company in San Francisco, and decides to invite mum on his business trip so as to reunite them; without telling her.
With the set-up established I settled in waiting for the hilarity involving drunkenness, sex, drugs, fights etc. to ensue. This is after all a Seth Rogen flick. Instead we are treated to a quieter, more gentle, and thoughtful comedy drama were the sauciest scene involves Streisand tackling a four pound lump of meat ( a steak that is).
The interplay between the two leads feels very natural and you believe in their relationship. The script kept me involved throughout, but there were too few laughs for me. I could envisage this produced by BBC 1 as a Sunday evening one off starring Julie Walters and Rob Brydon (I'll never be a casting director). And I dare say it would be very entertaining.
If you enter the theatre with the right frame of mind (take a packet of Werther's originals) I think you will be rewarded more than I, it will be worth taking the bus for.