NETFLIX PICK: Family friendly flick
September 11, 2012
What do you get when you cross a hippy family with a military one? Watch “Yours, Mine, and Ours” to find out. The movie was directed by Raja Gosnell and is an improved re-make of the 1986 film, which starred Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda.
Dennis Quaid and Rene Russo seriously out do themselves in this 2005 family comedy. The storyline is very easy to follow and I would recommend it to all ages.
The film starts out introducing Admiral Frank Beardsley, played by Quaid, and Helen North, played by Russo. Frank, a widower with eight children, is returning to his home town of New London to run the Coast Guard Academy. His children are very well disciplined with charts and salutes, and even though they move around a lot, they all would love to have a permanent home. On the other hand, there’s Helen, a free spirit designer who is also a widower, but has ten children. Her kids live in chaos and very much enjoy it, just like their mother.
It turns out that Helen and Frank were high school sweethearts and when they find each other at a reunion, they instantly get their spark back. Without even telling their children, they get married on the spot. This is when they break the news and both sets of kids absolutely refuse to be a part of this new conjoined family.
Once they are all forced to move into an old lighthouse with the two families, numerous pets and a housekeeper, the real problems begin. Although Frank and Helen are very happy together, the 18 kids aren’t. Bathroom schedules and group hugs don’t mix very well to them and the idea of “living like a big circus group” does not appeal at all. So as the two families continue to clash, the kids realize that they are just too different to get along and the parents realize that they have very different opinions and views on how to discipline the kids.
Instead of hating each other, the children decide that they should join together and rebel against their parents. They cook up a plan to end the marriage and once again have split families. The plan forces them to see the good in each other and right when they want to call it off, their plan succeeds. Now, facing some unexpected consequences, they will all have to decide what they really want and how far they are willing to go to get it.
Full of family values and real life situations, this Netflix Pick of the Week is sure to not disappoint. If you want a movie to make you laugh, think and tug on your heart strings, this movie is for you. So add it to your movie night and enjoy!