THE GUILT TRIP [2012 / 2013] [Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy]
Smart, Charming and Funny! Get Ready For One Mother Of A Road Trip!
Barbra Streisand and Seth Rogen are the perfect comedy duo, as they embark on one mother of a road trip! The plan for a quick stop at Mom's takes a sudden turn when an impulse compels Andrew ‘Andy’ Brewster [Seth Rogen] to invite his mother, Joyce Brewster [Barbra Streisand] on an 8 day, 3,000 mile journey across the country. The farther they go, the closer they get, so buckle up for the outrageous funny adventure that just might prove they have more in common than Andy ever imagined.
FILM FACT No.1: 2013 Razzie Awards: Nomination: Worst Actress for Barbra Streisand.
FILM FACT No.2: The film ‘THE GUILT TRIP’ is based on a real-life trip by screenwriter Dan Fogelman and his mother from New Jersey to Las Vegas years before. The film completed production in late spring or early summer May – July of 2011 under the working title ‘My Mother's Curse.’ In late 2011, the film was renamed ‘THE GUILT TRIP’ and it was released on the 19th December, 2012. The film ‘THE GUILT TRIP’ marks Barbra Streisand's first starring role since ‘The Mirror Has Two Faces’ in 1996. Barbra Streisand appeared in supporting roles in the film ‘Meet the Fockers’ in 2004 and ‘Little Fockers’ in 2010, as well as in a number of television shows.
Cast: Barbra Streisand, Seth Rogen, Julene Renee, Zabryna Guevara, John Funk, Robert Curtis Brown, Kathy Najimy, Miriam Margolyes, Rose Abdoo, Tom Virtue, Vivian Vanderwerd, Worth Howe, Vicki Goldsmith, Matthew Levinson, Joseph Levinson, Kevin O'Keefe, Rick Gonzalez, Jeff Witzke, Casey Wilson, Steve Tom, David Boller, Gabrielle Gumbs, Dale Dickey, Analeis Lorig, Yvonne Strahovski, Colin Hanks, Brandon Keener, Jeff Kober, Lorna Scott, Kathleen Fletcher, Brett Cullen, Pedro Lopez, Jen Zaborowski, Fred Fletcher, Darryl Sivad, Nora Dunn, Davis Neves, Jackson Douglas, Constance Esposito, Adam Scott, Ari Graynor, Shirley Claudia Charles, Dewain Robinson, Kim Robillard, Marisa Baram (uncredited), James Barbour (uncredited), Michael Cassidy (uncredited), Patty Chong (uncredited), Roslyn Cohn (uncredited), Mark Casimir Dyniewicz (uncredited), Emily Pelz (uncredited), Michael James Spall (uncredited) and Tawny Amber Young (uncredited)
Director: Anne Fletcher
Producers: Barbra Streisand, Dan Fogelman, Evan Goldberg, John Goldwyn, Lorne Michaels and Seth Rogen
Screenplay: Dan Fogelman
Composer: Christophe Beck
Cinematography: Oliver Stapleton, B.S.C. (Director of Photography)
Image Resolution: 1080p
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Audio: English: 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
French: 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround
Spanish: 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround
Português: 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround
English: 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo Audio
Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Spanish and Português
Running Time: 95 minutes
Region: Blu-ray: All Regions and DVD: NTSC
Number of discs: 2
Studio: Paramount Pictures
Andrew's Blu-ray Review: ‘THE GUILT TRIP’ probably represents the only point in time when the careers of Barbra Streisand and Seth Rogen synchronise enough to bring them together for a two-hander. Somehow, a mother-son road trip comedy seemed like the right move for both entertainers, separated by two generations and distant fan bases.
Music legend Barbra Streisand began her film career forty-five years ago with a Best Actress OSCAR® win. A Golden Globe® Awards fixture who graduated to directing and producing, and at 71 years of age when this film was released, Barbra Streisand wields a staggering but respected filmography. Seth Rogen, who just turned 31 at the time of this film, emerged as the comedic voice of his generation six summers ago when two of his raunchy R-rated comedies in Judd Apatow's ‘Knocked Up' [2007] and the Seth Rogen screenplay ‘Superbad' [2007] were among the year's most successful and acclaimed films at the time. Within two years, doubt began to form over his leading man status and since `The Green Hornet' [2011] showed him people weren't any crazier about him as fit, sarcastic superhero than as his signature chubby, sarcastic stoner, he and Hollywood have been rethinking his calling.
Based on this trajectory, you might think Barbra Streisand was slumming in a desperate attempt to appeal to young people. In reality, though, her filmmaking legacy had been tarnished by her first two 21st century acting credits: playing Ben Stiller's mother in the sequels ‘Meet the Fockers' and ‘Little Fockers.' The first of those was outrageously successful, though only moderately popular. The second was neither. Thus, a Barbra Streisand and Seth Rogen pairing held an expected potential for both of its stars.
With a script by rising Dan Fogelman which includes the film ‘Crazy,' ‘Stupid, Love' and ‘Tangled,’ and seemed destined to do solid holiday season business and via some Golden Globe® Awards in the Comedy or Musical categories. Alas, ‘THE GUILT TRIP’ would do neither of those things, grossing a weak $37.1 million on a $40 million budget and picking up just a single award nomination of the undesirable variety, especially Barbra Streisand getting a “Razzie” for the Worst Actress. Embarrassingly, the night before the Golden Globe® Awards nominations were announced, an overconfident Paramount Pictures uploaded a promo celebrating the Best Actress nod to Barbra Streisand who actually did not get.
Dan Fogelman doesn't offer much in the way of originality or complexity here. Andrew ‘Andy’ Brewster [Seth Rogen] lives in California. His long-widowed mother Joyce Brewster [Barbra Streisand] lives in New Jersey and fills his voicemail with conversational messages in expectation of a rare visit. Joyce likes to question her son Andy about his love life, to his discomfort. Meanwhile, Joyce Brewster shoots down his reciprocal question by saying she values being single for the ability to enjoy fun size bags of M&M Peanut’s, immediately before and after bed. When Joyce Brewster reveals to Andrew ‘Andy’ Brewster that he was named after her first boyfriend, a Florida advertiser who let her get away, Andrew ‘Andy’ Brewster does some online sleuthing and tracks this former love to San Francisco. A bachelor with a Master's in chemistry, where Andrew ‘Andy’ Brewster is planning to take an eight-day road trip to pitch his creation, a new organic cleaning spray, to major retailers around the country. He decides to make San Francisco the final stop and invites Joyce to join him on the Road trip!
That sitcom premise takes nagging, cost-conscious mother and embarrassed son to sitcom stops for motel and diner sketches. In snowy Tennessee, Andrew ‘Andy’ Brewster's high school sweetheart, now married and pregnant, recalls his rejected teenaged proposal to her. In Lubbock, Texas, Joyce gets an hour on the clock to eat a four-pound steak dinner in its entirety for free or fail and pay $100. In Las Vegas, Joyce gets the thrill of playing actual slot machines and not just the cell phone equivalents.
Meanwhile, Andrew ‘Andy’ Brewster's pitches to the likes of Kmart and Costco are a disaster, with executives not responding to his scientific claims or prop usage while struggling with the product's tough to pronounce name “Scieoclean.” Once Joyce Brewster suggests some ways to spice up his presentations, you can probably declare with ease where the film is heading and I don't just mean San Francisco and by the end of the film you want it to carry on.
Barbra Streisand and Seth Rogen, whose age difference is perfectly feasible, thus highly unusual for Hollywood comedies, have decent chemistry together and better than you'd expect given the different circles they run in. Seth Rogen's foul-mouthed, drug-based shtick is softened quite a bit, but not enough to defang his comedic chops. He and Barbra Streisand are believable representatives of their different generations and they are able to bounce off each other, at times with apparent improvisation.
The material has never been any better than a random episode of a mediocre twenty-year-old sitcom, but its comfort food comedy and the deliveries are good enough to unearth a bit of zest. Many of the beats are defiantly unoriginal: a man insisting on buying Joyce a drink at a cowboy bar, an uncomfortable book on tape, a mini-bar binge blow-up. But enough genuine details, e.g. Joyce's purse hook and insistence on hydration, emerge to distinguish the outing and prevent it from feeling like a déjà vu embodying one of comedy cinema's most exploited conventions.
THE GUILT TRIP MUSIC TRACK LIST
HOWLIN’ FOR YOU (Written by Dan Auerbach and Patrick J. Carney) (aka Patrick Carney) [Performed by The Black Keys]
I NEED A DOLLAR (Written by Egbert Dawkins, Leon Michels, Nick Movshon and Jeff Silverman) [Performed by Aloe Blacc]
CHEERY PIE (Written by Jani Lane) [Performed by Warrant]
TRICKY DICKY (Written by Heinz Ladvskow)
HEARTACHES BY THE NUMBERS (Written by Harlan Howard) [Performed by Ray Price]
WRAPPED (Written by Bruce Robison) [Performed by George Strait]
WAYWARD SON (Written by Clarence Buzz Chestnut)
IT’S ALL GOOD (Written by Gary Don Smith)
HEARTBROKE AND BUSTED (Written by Anthony Charles Merando and Claude Le Henaff) [Performed by The Crossroads Band]
RED RAGTOP (Written by Jason White) [Performed by Tim McGraw]
DOWN YONDER (Written by Doc Watson) [Performed by Doc Watson]
SENORITA MARGARITA (Written by Joseph David Curtis) [Performed by Gone West]
TAKE YOUR MAMA (Written by Babydaddy (aka Scott Hoffman), Jake Shears (aka Jason Sellards), Del Marquis (aka Derek Gruen) and Paddy Boom (aka Patrick Seacor) [Performed by Scissor Sisters]
WONDERWALL (Written by Noel Gallagher) [Performed by Paul Anka]
STUCK IN THE MIDDLE WITH YOU (Written by Joe Egan and Gerald Rafferty) [Performed by Stealers Wheel]
Blu-ray Image Quality – ‘THE GUILT TRIP’ 1080p image transfer is not quite the most stunning thing ever to be released in high definition Blu-ray, but Paramount Pictures has given us at least a stable and enjoyable presentation gets the job done. There are some gorgeous roadway and city shots; overhead highway images or dense downtown locations both reveal fantastic textures, crisp lines, and precise details even at a distance. General facial and clothing details are fine, though not really as crisp as those seen in the best Blu-ray releases. There is a light softness to parts of the image, and sometimes definition can be a little muddled, particularly in warmer locations such as a Texas steakhouse and a Vegas casino. Still, basic definition is just fine, particularly under good lighting. Colours are well balanced, favouring warmth in those more harshly lit environments and a more natural presence in those more naturally lit places. Black levels are not problematic, though flesh tones do look a bit rosy at times. The image suffers from no obvious bouts of digital tinkering, print wear, or compression issues. This isn't a breath-taking transfer, but it's a good, stable, clean high definition release that suits the movie well.
Blu-ray Audio Quality – ‘THE GUILT TRIP’ features the old “technically proficient, but sonically dull” 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack, which would of been better served if it had just been a 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo Audio soundtrack. No surprise, this is a dialogue-heavy film with little else to offer. Fortunately, the spoken word comes through as well as it can, playing with a natural, front-focused clarity. The track otherwise features some scattered ambient sound effects that help set the stage for various scenes and that enjoy natural, pinpoint positioning around the stage. Whether the light rattle inside the rental car and the minor whooshing sounds of passing traffic as heard when it's cruising down the interstate, booms of thunder and gusts of wind as heard in chapter six, or little Country music and general restaurant clatter as heard in chapter nine, the track presents the little supportive pieces quite effortlessly. This is certainly no massively immersive sort of presentation, but the basic quality is evident with every syllable and sound effect.
Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
Special Feature: Barbra & Seth [2012] [1080p] [1.78:1] [7:32] Cast and crew take a look at the chemistry between the stars and the acting chops of Seth Rogen and Barbra Streisand. Some fun on-set moments are interspersed throughout.
Special Feature: Barbra's World [2012] [1080p] [1.78:1] [8:21] Cast and crew talk about what it is like to work with a legend while examining the specific qualities Barbra Streisand brought to ‘THE GUILT TRIP.’
Special Feature: Guilt Trip: Real Mother of a Road Trip [2012] [1080p] [1.78:1] [5:47] Writer Dan Fogelman shares the real influences that shaped his script.
Special Feature: In the Driver's Seat [2012] [1080p] [1.78:1] [7:15] A closer look at the style and contributions of Director Anne Fletcher.
Special Feature: Not Really a Road Trip Movie [2012] [1080p] [1.78:1] [5:16] A piece that examines recreating various stretches of the United States in California.
Special Feature: Alternate Openings [2012] [1080p] [1.78:1] [2:36] Andy Growing Up [1:26] and Alternate Title Sequence [1:10]. The former is an excellent 86 seconds that would have greatly enhanced the picture.
Special Feature: Alternate Ending [2012] [1080p] [1.78:1] [2:08] adds a joke and gives Andy a potential love interest while reinforcing Joyce's.
Special Feature: Gag Reel [2012] [1080p] [1.78:1] [5:09] Compilation outtakes revealing the production's giggly atmosphere and openness to improvisation. As in the other extras, F-bombs are bleeped here. The highlight comes in the end, as Barbra Streisand and Seth Rogen talk Green Hornet and Green Lantern.
Special Feature: Deleted Scenes [2012] [1080p] [1.78:1] [19:23] Underwear, Typical Weekend Plans, Chicken Dinner Uncut, Extended Mature Singles Club, Really Wonderful Man, Water Cooler Outtakes, That's All I'm Gonna Say, Rental Car, GPS, Amanda – The Receptionist, Parking, and Crush.
DVD Copy [Feature Film] The DVD included here, is identical to the one sold separately, contains no bonus features other than “Previews” which simply repeats ‘Star Trek Into Darkness,' ‘Jack Reacher' and ‘Not Fade Away' trailers with which the disc opens. Paramount Pictures has subscribed to the trend of devaluing the DVD even more than any other studio, seemingly altogether doing away with bonus features on the still most popular format. Adding insult to injury here, the DVD only uses 5.28 GB of a dual-layered disc's 8 GB capacity, meaning there is ample room for some of the dropped extras.
Finally, ‘THE GUILT TRIP’ is a really pleasant surprise. It begins slowly but ends strongly, efficiently building up, breaking down, and again, but differently, building up its characters to a predictable but heart-warming and wholly satisfying resolution. The film works as well as it does because of the greatness of its leads; Barbra Streisand and Seth Rogen are simply wonderful together. They understand the story, the characters, and one another so well that the relationship and the entire dynamic, not just bits and pieces feel as authentic as most any other memorable cinema family. Don't let a slow start ruin the film; it only gets better with every minute. Paramount Pictures Blu-ray release of ‘THE GUILT TRIP’ offers a very solid video, fine audio and a few nice supplements to keep you amused. Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
