The Daytrippers (1997)

From my favorite movies..

A Disappointing Continuation

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Eliza D'Amico is in love with her husband Louis and assumes that he feels the same way. However when she finds a note of love poetry in his pocket from someone called Sandy, she worries that he is having an affair. Confiding in her mother, father, sister and her sister's boyfriend, the decision is made for her to take a trip into the city to investigate. After a drive, the group pry into Louis' office and uncover something going on with a colleague called Cassandra. They dig deeper and their trip turns into a full day and night in the city.I can understand those who have problems with the narrative arch of this film because it is a bit unlikely and contrived but it is likely that many viewers will find enjoyment in the dialogue and mood of the film. Never hilarious, the film has a consistently nice comic touch and the dialogue help produce the characters over and above the situations that the plot puts them in. In this way it works reasonably well because it develops the story well enough while using the specific situations to allow for comic dialogue. I wasn't ever laughing and I wasn't ever totally engrossed in the story but it did enough to keep my interest and amuse and interest. Mottola aims for an independent feel and hits it spot on. It has its flaws but it works even if the film stock has dated and looks a bit grainy.The cast work well with the material and Mottola's casting agents have done really well to get such an ensemble together. There is no one clear lead and everyone works well together. Davis is given the least of the characters as she has to carry the plot but she does it well regardless. Posey is more interesting because her character is – plus I always find her easy to enjoy for some reason. Schreiber judges his character well and allows us to spot his annoying characteristics gradually in the same way that Jo would be spotting them with time; often I find him annoying, here it was intentional and his performance is good in that way. Tucci has a minor role and his presence is more about his name that his ability, but he is welcome. Meara and McNarama both work well together and produce the most energy as the parents. All of them work well with the dialogue and the scenarios and do their best with the narrative.Overall this is a light indie film that des have weakness in the narrative but generally makes up for it with good dialogue and a nice air to it. The starry (if you move in that way) cast react well to it and turn in good performances and characters that help the film be better that the narrative arch would suggest it is.

I just caught this on a Sunday afternoon and it ended up being a good movie experience for me. This is as close to real life as I can remember a movie getting. All of the characters are real and have real feelings. I can't remember a shred of violence in the movie even though it had plenty of screaming. I enjoyed the relationship between Parker Posey and Liev Schreiber. Even though many life changing events occur over the course of the day that the movie takes place, everyone seems to be having a good time just getting out together. The film has some slow spots, I guess where they were trying to get to their 90 minute running time. 6/10 which I don't give out easily. I find the film to be good, and in an original way.

This movie cracked me up. I thought Parker Posey was great, Anne Meara, Liev Shreiber, Stanley Tucci, etc. A wild 24 hours of suburbia in a station wagon meets Manhattan, some very funny moments and situations with a big surprise at the end. I always recommend this film to my friends that like indies.

And not THAT bad, either--but left me wanting more. The squabbling Italian family was more realistic in "True Love," Stanley Tucci was more manipulative in "The Big Night," Parker Posey much more entertaining in "Party Girl," and Hope Davis is, well, always Hope Davis. If YOUR hopes aren't that high, take a look: but this is the very definition of over-rated.