Maybe I shouldn't have been surprised as I don't think Barbra wouldn't read a script that was silly and stupid and decide to do it. It is my birthday and this was advertised on my tablet and I thought, "What the heck? Barbra." Glad I listened to myself and Amazon.

I fixed some dinner and sat down to watch it. Low expectations got higher and higher. I was actually laughing out loud, which I only do during a good throw out line in a drama and not today's comedies. Both of them were perfect for this show. It never went over the top. Once the joke was done, it was done, they didn't try and milk it for another 5 minutes.

Mom and older unmarried son set out to find her true love, her first boyfriend, after whom she name her son. Of course, he doesn't tell her that is really the reason he asks her on the trip. There wasn't the ending I was expecting but at the end, it was the ending I realized I wanted and didn't know it. Oh, and Stuck in the Middle with You, is one of my all-time fav songs and I often sing it to myself (it played over the credits)! During the credits, they don't have bloopers, nor do I believe they hit the cutting room floor. I have a feeling they decided to just sit in the car and riff silly ideas improv style. Just my opinion...

Happy 76th birthday to me!

Lots of popcorn and snacks for adults and older teens to watch together. Enjoy!

I have to say, although it will never go down in history as a top comedy, what a great feel good movie for moms. Especially us single moms. Babs and Seth did great together. If you don't expect too much, and have a son.... You should love it. Especially the tiny surprise towards the end. Definitely brings a happy tear. I'd watch it again and will with my mom. Maybe my boys will appreciate it one day...may be. Hey Seth, call my boys and tell them to watch this with their Mutha!

You know those movies "Bad ___" that feature nothing but moms, Santas, grandmas, grandpas, etc. behaving badly? That's what this is only it's Barbra Streisand as an overbearing mother and Seth Rogan as the straight man. The plot is merely a device to hang the series of vignettes/sketches on. It's not mean to be deep or clever. It's just meant to be silly. Realize it for what it is and enjoy the sketches. Watch this movie when you just want something light and cute to pass some time.

It was good to see Streisand in a movie again as I hadn't in a long while. This was relaxing and a relief to realize there wasn't going to be any murders, or robberies, or violence. I thank the producers for recognizing that a lot of us need a comfortable experience that doesn't mimic the world in which we currently find ourselves living.

I've never been a mom and thought this was a sweet presentation, especially, to see the mom become adventurous in her own right as well as help her now grown-up son to loosen up and achieve his goals. My favorite scene was at the steakhouse. It's a timeless movie about mothers and sons for anyone, who is considering watching it.

This is a thoughtful, well considered movie. I'm pretty sure its The balance is because of B Streisand. Her character, Joyce, makes her point, with all the typical gripes of regret, despair, loneliness, being judged by men, motherhood, feeling anonymous but raising a thoughtful but self-absorbed child...She is not over-the-top and when she is over-the-top she reins it in-- she makes Seth Rogen look good.

15 minutes in I turned it off ,.. 5 minutes after that,.. I turned it back on,... if you can do this,.. you can tolerate the rest of the movie where Barbra carries Seth for the entire film,.. I dont think I have ever seen two people whom did not belong one on one in an entire movie production together! OY Vey Rogan,.. are you just perpetually stoned ? you want to bring a legend of film and music and improve fifty percent of the lines?? OK Ok on the positive side,. it is a beautiful story with a priceless message and I am glad I finished it.

This film is packaged to look ordinary; a date movie. The title, "The Guilt Trip" adds to that, whereas the title has several possible meanings. Then the cast: Barbra Streisand and Seth Rogen, two of our most versatile and confusing actors, one gets into this film expecting a typical, safe Hollywood comedy where all the best bits are in the trailer.
Instead we get a script as clever as something Sorkin would write and we see two of the finest performances these two have ever given.
Rogen is a remarkable actor, making every moment honest and in no way a catagory actor. He's a character actor who belongs in lead rles like Dustin Hoffman or Meryl Streep. And his Oscar is coming. He plays Andy, an unmarried scientist who is marketing a new green cleaning product. He's set up pitch meetings at corporations from New York to San Francisco. His ability to wow them in the board room is like Rosie O'Donnell ballroom dancing with Woody Allen. No one's buying it. But he's got a heart of gold and Rogen's eyes show it with every blink and every blush. He has arranged to take this cross country trip with his mother, a widow since Andy was a boy, and she nags him about finding a nice girl as much as he nags her to find a nice man. Rogen's in the A list here, in a two character film with a living legend and he not only makes it look easy, he knocks it out of the park.
Then there's Streisand who, in the course of a 50 year career as a superstar never delivers exactly what we expect. We've seen Streisand from "Hello, gorgeous" to "Eunice? That's a person named Eunice??" We know to expect high quality from Streisand no matter what she does and occassionally it gets too easy to just expect that.
So Barbra Streisand in "The Guilt Trip." Delivers top quality again but we're surprised because we don't get what we expected and we see a pure character we've never seen before.
Streisand also acts with her eyes, so pairing her with Rogen (the two are executive producers) is sheer brilliance but more so we didn't expect it. Her performance here is Oscar worthy, as has been much of her work, though her last Oscar for acting was "Funny Girl" in the 60's, even after Billy Crystal's very obvious slam to the Academy when "The Prince of Tides" was nominated for seven Oscars except Streisand as best director. (In a fantastic musical opening to the tune of Jule Styne's "Don't Rain On My Parade " he sang:
"Did this film direct itself?"
All four major awards went to "Silence of The Lambs" that year but in 1991 it became clear, by failing to nominate her at all as director, producer and actor, that the Academy was not going to nominate Streisand.
Since then there was no other definative evidence but with "The Guilt Trip" it's clear that to overlook her performance was intentional. That's how good she is. Streisand plays Joyce, Rogen's mother, and she is comfortable within the parameters of her simple life but this cross country trip pulls her out of her comfort zones and she becomes very vulnerable yet stronger.
In their rental car she has brought Jeffrey Eugenides' "Middlesex" book on CD, a brilliant novel about a hermaphrodite who struggles to become whole. The choice of this award winning novel is apt and not at all an accident. Both mother and son have duplicitously, though innocently, arranged for the other to reunite with their first love and it is the power of these meetings, the truths that unfold and how brilliantly these two actors pull it off that makes this film remarkable.
As the trip unfolds so does their relationship and we find bits of ourselves in them as a parent; as a child. The film is about love but more so about unity. There are some wonderful moments of hilarity but the beautiful honest moments are what makes this film a delightful surprise. We're not watching Streisand and Rogen, we're with Andy and Joyce Brewster.
And we're with them all the way. This is an excellent film that's about something.

First things - The movie was great. Some people think the first half is boring or slow, and that is somewhat true, but this is not an action movie. I was pleasantly surprised that this Seth Rogen movie wasn't bad at all. My 1 star rating is for the piss-poor copy protection - which STOPPED ME FROM WATCHING ON A REGULAR DVD PLAYER! Yes, the DVD case even says "This DVD is copy protected"

Here was my basic experience:
Hmm, available used - like new. DVD arrived a few days later in the mail. Pop it out of the case to examine for scratches/smudges - looks pristine. Turn on TV, put the DVD in the player. Hmmm. Nothing happening? What the? Pop disc out and clean with rubbing alcohol and a cotton ball, despite having no smudges or scratches. Put it back in the DVD player - no luck. Pop it out and try it on my computer instead; computer sees the file structure, so tried to watch it. Nope - crashed the video player. Tried another computer. Nope, no luck there either. Attempt to copy folder to hard disk - error. Hmmm.

Fire up software to remove copy protection, then copy to hard disk. Works like a charm! Convert to MP4 file, connect computer to TV, and watch the MP4 on full-screen TV. FINALLY. What a waste of copy protection. Why sell a DVD that I can't even play in a regular DVD player? So again, as I stare at the back of the DVD case at the words "This DVD is copy protected", I am struck by the irony: forced to make a copy to watch it.

In the end what did this gain Paramount? A pissed off customer who had to resort to breaking copy protection. I wonder, would this DVD play on ANY DVD player?

Again, this was an excellent movie, so don't be put off by the 1 star rating. Instead, consider buying it in a format other than DVD.