Family Weekend

I can not believe this doesn't have many stars. My husband and I watched this last night with our four children 16, 14, 12, and 5. We laughed, we cried, we cheered. And when it was over we had a BIG family group hug. We promised each other that we won't forget what makes each other happy, and we all need to support and love each other. Even if we dread the tennis tournaments, or long days at volleyball. Seeing your families faces in the stands cheering for you, it is what family is all about. The acting was great, and that they were on a Lake in Michigan, during the winter....amazing. Each character was so perfect. So diverse, exactly how a family is. We are all different, and have different passions. WATCH, watch, watch.

First thing, it was not your a typical film. Though it lacked the proper story structure. The concept seems silly. Like only for cinematically happenable. Since it is not about so serious, they had to cover all scenes, events within its classification, which were not bad actually. But the thing is, it is an R film with the majority of the cast was children. In reality, most of them were in their 20s, but the story wise, they are teens.

A teenager decides to take hostage of her parents to teach them some lesson for not attending her sporting competition. Her siblings join, and a couple of outsiders too. It was not a well planned event of the weekend, so some unexpected turn takes. But how it all ends, the consequence of such undertaking, all told is the final quarters.

A unique and an entertaining film. Despite lots of fun, there are some serious side too. Like awareness about the family unity. Being there for one another in all circumstances. Some viewers might get emotional too. In one of the scenes with a knife in the mouth, I scared that something bad could happen. Olesya Rulin was good. I hope she does more films in the lead. The film was four years old, so Joey was younger than her recent films I've seen. She's one of the next big star. Watch it if you are bored of regular comedies, yet still it is just an above average.

6.5/10

Family Weekend is a a really fun family comedy with heart. The movie features surprisingly good acting all around, but Olesya Rulin steals the show!

The movie centers on a high school speed jumper who's dysfunctional family lets her down, and her desperate attempt to write the ship before it's too late. Kristin Chenoweth and Matthew Modine are fantastically convincing on the dysfunctional side, and Joey King's performance is both skin-crawlingly creep and endearing and truly unexpected from such a young star.

Regarding Rulin's, her performance is spot on, and he portrays both her strong competitive side and vulnerable side flawlessly. She engages and keeps the audience's attention, and though her character is weird and quirky, we all want her to succeed. To quote Kelly Golighty "She reminds me of Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady with a dash of Lucille Ball thrown in for good measure."

It's not the first movie to turn a "hostile" situation into a funny one. But it still is able to remain kind of sweet and almost innocent. Obviously a few factors come into play that other movies were not able to use (the internet) and some other stuff. There are some interesting influences coming from outside the family circle (friends, co-workers and more).

The movie is funny, but has some logic issues. Then again, if you really buy into the movie (with its flaws) you will be able to enjoy a funny movie, that goes a bit dark (the young sister channeling some classic movies), but never loses the viewer with any sort of violence. For all its "dark" moments, it still might feel a bit too neat for some in the end, but it does pull the whole thing off

"Family Weekend" is a dark comedy about a 16-year-old girl, Emily (Olesya Rulin), who takes her family into her own hands to turn them into a normal family. But it's not going to be easy; Samantha Smith- Dungy (Kristen Chenoweth) is a workaholic mom, Duncan Dungy (Matthew Modine) is a hippie artist dad, and her brother and sister are maladjusted kids who think they are perfectly well-adjusted.

Emily takes after her mother and plots and schedules the success of her teenage life. One of which is her plan to win a jump rope competition, but her family isn't there to watch her compete because they can't think of anything beyond themselves. At the beginning, the film works because we care for Emily, we feel bad for her, and it's time to whip these idiots into shape.

She talks her brother and sister into taking her side, and they take their parents hostage and hold them captive inside their own house until they learn to think, talk and act like real parents. It sounds juvenile but it doesn't seem so bad in execution because Emily has a plan for how to reach maturity.

Surprising, or rather unsurprisingly, things don't go according to plan and Emily has made drastic changes to a drastic undertaking. I definitely could have used with a few less detours in Emily's strategy as it hurts her credentials as a sympathetic leading character, which is already on shaky ground, what with the whole kidnapping her parents idea and all.

Things then get dramatic which follows Emily losing her sympathy, but the comedy gets back on track with a happy medium between her current family and her ideal family and a resolution which is un-Hollywood but still uplifting. There's also a joke (which I will leave unspoiled as I think it's one of the better ones I have seen) that gives a resolution to her brother's dissatisfied life that is funny, original and meaningful all in one.

All in all, "Family Weekend" works well as a dark comedy indie even with a few dramatic and comedic missteps because the beginning and ending are clever enough to keep it cute and entertaining.