The Guilt Trip

In her first starring role in over 15 years, Barbra Streisand plays Joyce Brewster, the widowed mother of organic chemist/inventor Andy (Seth Rogen), who has a new product he is trying to pitch to manufacturers/distributors across the United States. Sensitive to his mother's loneliness, Andy invites her to join him on his upcoming road trip, while secretly scheming to reunite her with a lost love, a man she adored before meeting and marrying Andy's father. Leaving from New Jersey and heading toward San Francisco, the pair make several stops along the way, as Joyce not only delivers a running commentary about Andy's love life but also offers suggestions about how he should pitch the totally organic cleaning liquid it took him five years to develop. Blandly directed by Anne Fletcher from an episodic screenplay by Dan Fogelman (who based it on a real road trip with his mother), The Guilt Trip boasts some laughs but not nearly enough, and the usually rowdy Rogen seems intimidated by notoriously demanding Streisand (unfortunately, she never sings), who insisted that the entire film be shot within 45 minutes of her Malibu home. Optional, at best. [Note: Blu-ray extras include deleted scenes (20 min.), the behind-the-scenes featurettes “Barbra's World” on star Streisand (9 min.), “Barbra & Seth” with Streisand and Rogen (8 min.), “In the Drivers Seat” (8 min.), “Real Mother of a Road Trip” on the true story that inspired the film (5 min.), and “Not Really a Road Trip Movie” on location (5 min.), a gag reel (5 min.), alternate openings (3 min.), an alternate ending (2 min.), and bonus DVD, digital, and UltraViolet copies of the film. Bottom line: a decent Blu-ray extras package for a disappointing film.] (S. Granger)