Very funny, but don't expect quality

vchimpanzee

Tom is retiring after 25 years at the fire department in a California town. He is looking forward to spending time with Mary, but his two lazy sons Quinn and Elliot are still living with him and he wants them out. Mary refuses to make them go because she so enjoys providing for their every need. And it's not that the boys are lazy. Quinn is a filmmaker who knows how to use computers to add lots of fancy features and edit. Elliot, who seems dumb, is actually the creative mind for his bother's business. So far, though, they only post on YouTube and they haven't made a dime. They worked at a car dealer once but hated it because of their need to be creative.

Tom buys an RV and kidnaps Mary, taking her to a remote cabin and locking her up. When she tries to escape, the situation upsets their neighbors who think Tom is abusing Mary.

The boys discover the hard way that they are on their own. What they don't know is that Tom has had video cameras set up so he can monitor what the boys are doing, and the frustrated Mary takes some comfort in being able to see her boys.

It takes them a while, but they eventually learn what it takes to cope on their own. Their loser friends including Shirtless Boy need a place to stay, and Sarah, the mail carrier who got fired for trying to be creative (and got fired from the grocery store for trying to be creative) also needs a room. And Elliot likes her. She's pretty in a nerdy way and wants to be a masseuse. Quinn likes Suzy next door, daughter of Tom's widowed and tough co-worker, who is gorgeous and an airhead, wants to be a cheerleader but can't quite master the moves.

The boys have room for one more renter. Several hilarious potential renters show up in response to an ad the boys don't remember placing. The first several wouldn't work at all, but Hector is perfect. Or so they think. And soon the boys learn just what responsibility means.

So will the boys really learn to cope on their own? Danny DeVito and Katey Sagal give their usual performances. I'm sure no one will mistake this for a quality production despite the presence of these two talented actors, but they do add something.

Regardless of what you might think of everything else, Matthew Glave is very good as the perfect--okay, not so-perfect--tenant.

I don't know anything about Caitlin Crosby, but she's adorable. She seems intelligent but it might be the glasses.

Even if this isn't a great movie, it is very funny, provided you like the loser party animal fratboy image and demented physical comedy. I wouldn't recommend it for family viewing because even cleaned up, it has some quite filthy humor. But it's good for some silly laughs.

Be sure to stay around for the outtakes. It appears everyone had fun making this movie. Some of the outtakes don't even appear to be bloopers because they were used, such as the woman at the power company dancing.

If you like movies about losers, this may be for you.

score /10

vchimpanzee 29 July 2013

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw2840813/