New Year’s Films 9 – Are We There Yet?

Last week I promised you more in New York City this week, but I’ve decided to digress a bit. But for a good reason.

Generally speaking, I like to focus on films that work—at least, on some level. But there’s a film that didn’t work—pretty much on every level—that might be worth our time to look at. (Well, except financially. It grossed about three times its budget, so for the studio, that’s a success.) But critically it was panned. And audiences pretty much hated it too—giving it a 4.7 on IMDB.

The film is Are We There Yet? [2005] by Steven Gary Banks, Claudia Grazioso, J. David Stem and David N. Weiss.

The premise isn’t unfamiliar—a playboy-esque guy agrees to take a divorcee’s children to Vancouver for New Year’s. Of course, he absolutely hates kids but he’s really interested in dating this woman. And, of course, the kids really hate him because they want their mom to get back with their dad.

A road trip. Between a guy who doesn’t want to be doing this and kids who want to torpedo him. So what’s wrong with that?

Well, nothing, except that it’s a predictable premise. But hey, lots of movies use predictable premises, right? Sure. But you have to bring a freshness to a tired premise. You have to have interesting characters, unexpected twists… something to keep an audience interested.

Take a look at the trailer from the film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfs5-YMR8Q8

The film takes place on New Year’s Eve when Suzanne is stuck at work in Portland and has to get her two kids to Vancouver. She asks Nick, who owns a shop near her, to fly them there. He so wants to date her that—despite the fact that he hates kids as they’re always mucking about in his sports memorabilia shop—he agrees to do it.

And then, things happen. He has a problem at airport security—which is just one of many ways the kids sabotage him—and it becomes the road trip from hell.

It doesn’t sound that bad. Could be funny, right? Well, maybe you’d find a laugh or two. But the problem is the kids. They’re just written to be so horrible, so un-redeeming, so vicious that you begin to dislike the whole film.

I don’t think your characters need to always be likable—in fact, having unlikable characters adds texture to your story. But they need to be interesting—on some level. We need to care about them getting what’s coming to them, seeing the light, changing… something.

In this film, the kids are so atrocious that all you can think about is who in the world would put up with them.

And having them be so over the top makes the whole film less real, and when something seems off, it’s not something you want to watch.

So I mention this film as a cautionary tale—have unlikable characters, for sure—but remember it’s a fine line between unlikable and unendurable.

Next week, the promised New York City romp!

Copyright © Diane Lake

20Feb22

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