Kid... napping !

'House Arrest' is a really cute movie and hopefully will influence parents to think about things before just getting a divorce. This movie may not be the most realistic portrayal of how a kid would act when he found out his parents were thinking about splitting (ie locking your parents in the basement) but the reactions are pretty genuine in the fact that just about all kids have problems with their parents. Some things were def. over-exaggerated though, like when Grover (Kyle Howard) finds divorce papers in the mail and then 'flips' out by shoving a bunch of papers around and knocking stuff over. No kid, well usually, would be that mad about their parents divorcing (I'm sure they would be upset, maybe cry, but like wrecking stuff in some sort of manner, yea right). The acting wasn't bad, I thought it was pretty good all around. The story was funny and if your parents aren't like any of the ones in the movie, you probably will appreciate your own family more. I recommend seeing this if you can, it's on HBO a lot.

This comedy, about a teenager and his younger sister who lock their parents in the basement until they work out their marital problems, is not as bad as it sounds. We wind up with a bunch of kids upstairs who know how to relate to one another but gradually have to work out how to keep practical things running, and a bunch of adults downstairs who are just the opposite. In truth, neither side does very well, but at least this is not the tired condescension of the kids screwing up and needing to be rescued by the adults: both groups are portrayed with a mix of severity and sympathy. Throw in a meddling retired chief of police across the street, and make him Ray Walston whom I think everybody loved most in "Picket Fences," and you have a film that is very entertaining, and also carries across some deeper meaning about what contributions young people and older ones can make to each other's ongoing development. Kyle Howard was 18 trying to play 14, which took a good deal of suspension of disbelief, but that miscasting seems to be an obsession Hollywood just can't seem to grow out of.

House Arrest

Two kids are shocked when their parents announce that they are separating. As a last resort, the siblings decide to lock them in the basement and not let them out until their marital problems are solved. However, the friends of the children soon find out about what they are up to, and force their parents into the basement as well. Will the group of couples be able to sort out their relationships, or is this just one really bad plan gone wrong?

Okay, first of all, it's unlikely that the events in 'House Arrest' would ever happen, but the film is still frothy and fun. Even though some of the acting is highly irritating, the children (apart from the main guy) are very funny, as is Jamie Lee Curtis. While everything about the film is far too predictable and safe (even for a family film), there's an energy about the production that is impossible to resist. A guilty pleasure.

~ 6/10 ~

No matter how you beat around the bush this movie is still a good movie. Even though at times it can be sappy, like when Grover has his temper tantrum (which was absolutely funny) its still cute. My favorite part would have to be when the parents are dancing, it was so cute. But then you want to wonder what was going on with Mark's folks I mean at one point I was trying to understand why they were looking like they had sex the that night. When TJ started playing " Its Not Unusual" you see their heads pop out. Why would they be having sex when other people were around, thats kind of weird. Another thing it was kind of grimy how the fist thing that Mrs. Beindorf notices about her husband is his car. what was up with the nosy behind neighbor? These scenes really made you really want to go "hmmmmmm"? I love the part when Mr. Beindorf tells his wife that Mr. Krump would be his attorney. Krump looks at the wife and turns to Beindorf and say " I can get you the house, but kids might be a problem" All in all this movie is still good.

In the suburbs of Defiance, Ohio a sensitive and idealistic teenage boy is so shocked and distraught to learn that his parents are getting separated that he recruits his younger sister to help lock them in the basement in the desperate hope that they'll actually talk out their problems and come to a rational solution. It starts out as a good idea, until his friends bring over their parents and lock them into the basement as well. Film's premise is far-fetched and protracted, to be sure, but it benefits from a talented cast (especially Howard), believable characters, and a good sense of family values. Not easy to take seriously, but meaningful and really not bad for what it is. **½