Famille à l'essai

I can say this movie is clearly underrated. Maybe my age, my memories, childhood etc... It is cute, it has good sense of humor (Leslie Nielsen!!!), and don't expect great plots, huge surprises, this is a family movie which provides humor for everybody in the family.

I really feel it has nice interpretation of kids' difficulties who have troubles with having integration to family life, and well, I am pretty sure I will be somewhat clueless when it comes to dealing with kids like the parents.

Brilliant movie? Not. Worth to see? Of course, give it a chance. Don't get fooled by the low rating.

Cliff Haber runs the Mid-Valley Children's Home, and he needs a vacation. For the 10 days prior to Thanksgiving, he turns the operation over to his father Harry, who runs a store that rents just about everything a person could need for a kitchen right down to glassware.

Harry observes that the merchandise is not moving at his son's operation. While eating in a Mexican restaurant, he overhears a couple discussing the pros and cons of adoption and gets a brilliant idea: let people try out kids for a period of time and see if they are cut out to be parents. Cliff thinks it's a stupid idea, but while he is gone, Harry does it anyway.

The Lachmans want to adopt Molly, but she wants to stay with her mischievous brothers Kyle, who wants to be a surgeon and is always practicing, and Brandon, who loves to makes up stories, often scaring his sister even though he loves her. Harry decides to let Russ and Valerie, who live in a luxury apartment building with a doorman, try out the three Ward children for 10 days. The results are pretty much what you would expect, and quite hilarious at times. Oh, yes, and the kids were promised a dog.

Some opportunities for laughs: Kyle wants to go on a field trip to a hospital. And Russ and Valerie discover a long-lost letter written by Abraham Lincoln, and Brandon is fascinated by the Civil War. I also enjoyed the scene with the fantasy couple Mr. and Mrs. Nicely, whose mansion resembled an amusement park but had one door kids were NEVER supposed to open.

Leslie Nielsen was very funny at times, though not in quite the same way as in 'Airplane!' and the 'Naked Gun' series. Some of his delivery didn't quite work for me--for example, Harry had an annoying habit of repeating things he or someone else had already said to make them sound better. But he was hilarious when he would describe the children and the transactions as if the kids were his merchandise.

Christopher Lloyd was quite good as the kindly doorman Lawrence. Tabitha Lupien may have given the movie's best performance as 5-year-old Molly, and she and Sherry Miller (as Molly's prospective Mom) were quite good together. The other kids were good too.

There was plenty of physical comedy, and nothing to concern parents. The closest this movie ever got to PG: Russ and Valerie were 'interrupted', but of course younger kids wouldn't know what they were getting ready to do in bed.

This was fluff and somewhat predictable, but it was the kind of movie I enjoy.

This wasn't a particularly good movie, but it wasn't awful either. Incredibly and sometimes charmingly predictable--like a Leave It to Beaver episode--Rent-a-Kid is neither very interesting nor particularly memorable, but it's pretty harmless. It's typical made-for-TV fare, really, devoid of well-developed characters or relationships, and in the end everybody is a good guy. But it doesn't insult one's intelligence and the kids are fairly cute--unlike the typical obnoxious, irritatingly precocious brats that usually plague this sort of movie. Rent-a-Kid makes for entertainment only if you're really bored, but at least you won't feel worse about the world after having watched it.

Russ and Valerie are having discussions about starting a family. The couple live in a posh apartment and run an auction business that deals with valuable collectibles. At the same time, a dedicated adoption agency owner takes a mini vacation and leaves the orphanage in the charge of his father (Leslie Nielsen). Father Harry is in the rental business and he gets the brilliant idea to "rent" some of the children of the orphanage to couples like Russ and Valerie. Harry, who becomes aware of the couple'e dilemma, offers a family of siblings for a 10 day rental period! Brandon, Kyle, and Molly move into the apartment with their temporary parents, with amusing consequences, as the new caretakers are inexperienced with kids. But, where is the possibility of a happy ending? This is a darling family film. The actors, including Nielsen as the wheeler-dealer and Christopher Lloyd as the kind apartment doorman, are all wonderful. The script is snappy and fun and the overall production values quite high. Yes, if only life could be this way! Orphaned children everywhere deserve a chance to prove that they are lovable and can give so much joy to the parents who are considering adoption. If you want to show a film to your family that is rooted in good values but is also highly entertaining, find this movie. It is guaranteed to have everyone laughing, even as their hearts are melting.

I ran across this movie at the local video store during their yearly sidewalk sale. While scanning thousands of videos, hoping to find a few cartoon movies for sale, I came across this movie. I read the back of the movie and knew it was God's hand at work for me to purchase this movie. You see, I have a sibling group of three foster (and soon to be adopted) children living with my family. Immediately my foster children made a connection with the three children starring in the movie. The movie helped them better understand their own circumstances. For the first time, also, the oldest of the sibling group (7 year old/female) decided to open up to me a little bit about her past and the trauma she had experienced. She has been fighting the entire trust issue. This is also the first time I had seen her cry. After watching the film, I asked her what it meant for a child to be adopted. She replied, "It means to be happy." A must see for families who are fostering children and are considering adoption. It certainly opened the lines of communication with us.