The Guilt Trip
Starring: Barbara Streisand, Seth Rogen
Directed By: Anne Fletcher
Reviewed by Danielle Muir

[rating: 1/5]

Oh dear.  Apparently some bright spark thought it would be comedy gold to cast Seth Rogen as himself and Barbara Streisand as the overprotective mother, and have them riff on various parent-child issues that many families can relate to in a somewhat witty matter.  For ninety minutes. Pity it doesn’t make good entertainment.  Or good anything, really.

Rogen plays a young wannabe cleaning prodigy, going across country to tout his environmentally friendly and perpetually mispronounced ‘Scio-clean’.  Feeling sorry for his darling widowed mum and finding out about some long-lost true love Andy Margolos she had in her youth, he decides to round out his meetings road trip in San Francisco (where said Andy currently works).  This means 8 days in a confined space with mother dearest commenting and quipping on his personal and professional life.  Oh joy.

It seems as though the scriptwriter simply described a few motherly nags to Streisand and then asked Rogen to retort with screwed up facial expressions of horror as the main form of dialogue.  In addition, they’ve plugged in a few ‘hilarious’ settings (strip clubs, casinos, eating competitions) for good measure in order for the two stars to stretch their comedic wings.  Unfortunately, the whole ordeal is just weak and rife with mumbling.

Credit where credit’s due, there were around two lines that I had an honest couple of laughs, mainly at some unexpected dialogue spouted by Rogen about his failing cleaning product.  But those moments can’t make up for bad material.  And that is the crux of this movie – whilst Babs puts in a passable but stereotypical portrayal of a flappable mother and Rogen is playing…well…Seth Rogen, their material just isn’t up to par with even the mildly funny.

Even though I’ve laden this review with verbal abuse perhaps it’s my secret retaliation as I, in this scenario, am the Rogen child who never visits their mother.  What I’m saying is I think that this movie will appeal to the abandoned child-bearers who also have a penchant for Babs.  I’m sure there are a few chuckles to be had by the ones left in the nest.

So even though I am probably the wrong target audience for The Guilt Trip, that doesn’t make up for the fact that it’s a very, very weak film.  Sorry Babs – I know you’re a national treasure and all, but this is not the way to round out your entertainment career.