Yours, Mine and Ours
starring Dennis Quaid, Rene Russo, Rip Torn and Linda Hunt
screenplay by Don Burch and David Kidd
directed by Raja Gosnell
Rating: ♦
This is a 2005 remake of the 1968 Paramount Pictures movie of the same title starring Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda. I liked the original much better. The film is not meant to rehash the original story, but to be a more up-to-date family entertainment. I suppose it is that, but since I know the original I am unsympathetic to the new version. In addition, the original film was meant for adults to watch and laugh at, but this new version looks, sounds and feels like an After School Special for pre-teen audiences. The performances are uninspiring, like they were taken out of a Disney Family Entertainment Handbook, or something. In fact, the most interesting characters/performances came from the supporting actors Linda Hunt as the nanny, Mrs. Munion, and Rip Torn, as the Coast Guard Commandant Sherman - both marvelous character actors.
It’s a very formulaic story: a widowed woman with ten children meets and marries a widowed man with eight children and the resulting fun is like three Brady Bunches. Chaos, adventure, and good old traditional family lovin’. Boring!!!!