DAYTRIPPERS

Comparable to the wackiness of dysfunctional families depicted in FLIRTING WITH DISASTER, THE DAYTRIPPERS follows the breakdown of a young couple’s marriage. Eliza (Hope Davis) and Louis (Stanley Tucci ) are very much in love as the film opens, as Louis leaves on a business trip. Their relationship is quickly put to the test when Eliza discovers a love letter which had fallen behind their bedroom night stand. Taking the letter to her somewhat psychotic and overbearing mother, Eliza’s entire family ends up in the family station wagon headed for New York City.

Endeavoring to find Louis, who has departed on his “business trip,” they all try to uncover his forbidden affair. Through a comedy of errors, they discover that his lover is someone quite unexpected.

Marked by haphazard, unmotivated events, this plot meanders much as does FLIRTING WITH DISASTER. The supporting cast doesn’t provide much help, either. Parker Posey , who portrays Jo, Eliza’s sister, sleeps with her boyfriend, a philosopher and novelist. This bizarre and boring sidestory further distances the viewer from the unwieldy storyline of the film.

The only apparent purpose for the film is to examine one more time the breakdown of the all-American family. The plot elements of this poorly written and under-produced film include intermittent sarcasm, strange ramblings from the philosopher boyfriend and a final showdown between an overbearing, manipulative mother and her two daughters. This feature film has no redeeming message at all, with drinking, smoking, homosexual kissing, and more.