While part of this movie is very funny, the premise is actually quite sad. It's also quite dated, since the term "broken home" expired in the millennium, and no one with divorced parents thinks there's anything wrong with it. But movies in the 1990s like Mrs. Doubtfire and House Arrest understood that "broken home" was an apt term for the situation. The security and trust that children were supposed to feel was broken, and unless there was terrible physical abuse or substance abuse, most children wished their parents would get back together.
In this "kiddy" movie (which really isn't a movie for children unless they're going through the same situation and need actors to give them catharsis), parents Jamie Lee Curtis and Kevin Pollack have a bad marriage. They can't stop fighting, and their children Kyle Howard and Amy Sakasitz are afraid divorce is right around the corner. Rather than act the way 2020s children act and shrug their shoulders before discussing their iPhones and social media status updates, Kyle and Amy actually care about preserving their family unit. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and they lock their parents in the basement and refuse to let them out until they've made up. When their friends find out what they're up to, they start to think their own parents could benefit from a little kidnapping and hostage too!
In essence, it's sweet, but it's definitely a time capsule. I remember watching Mrs. Doubtfire all the time as a kid and laughing myself silly, but as an adult, all I could take from it was the intense sadness from the dissolving marriage. This one's definitely lighter, though, so you probably won't have to bring your Kleenexes.
In this "kiddy" movie (which really isn't a movie for children unless they're going through the same situation and need actors to give them catharsis), parents Jamie Lee Curtis and Kevin Pollack have a bad marriage. They can't stop fighting, and their children Kyle Howard and Amy Sakasitz are afraid divorce is right around the corner. Rather than act the way 2020s children act and shrug their shoulders before discussing their iPhones and social media status updates, Kyle and Amy actually care about preserving their family unit. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and they lock their parents in the basement and refuse to let them out until they've made up. When their friends find out what they're up to, they start to think their own parents could benefit from a little kidnapping and hostage too!
In essence, it's sweet, but it's definitely a time capsule. I remember watching Mrs. Doubtfire all the time as a kid and laughing myself silly, but as an adult, all I could take from it was the intense sadness from the dissolving marriage. This one's definitely lighter, though, so you probably won't have to bring your Kleenexes.