This looks like a case of a classic schizophrenic Hollywood movie--too dark-humored for fans of romantic comedy, not nearly outrageous enough for those looking for that quality. (You may get a little nervous, though, when a shotgun-wielding character walks into a fast-food restaurant full of kids.) Consequently it will end up alienating a lot of viewers looking for the one type of film or the other. Most of the characters aren't very enjoyable to watch, with the noted exception of Drew Barrymore in the lead. I was disappointed that Catherine O'Hara's part wasn't any better--she could have really livened the movie up if her character had been a little more forceful.
Despite all the problems, there was still something left to like here, and I would give it a positive recommendation, but just barely. On second thought, recommending this movie to someone would be a risky proposition, but I thought that overall it was marginally successful.
Home Fries
1998
Action / Comedy / Drama / Romance
Home Fries
1998
Action / Comedy / Drama / Romance
Plot summary
Hamburger joint waitress Sally Jackson is pregnant. When Beatrice, the wife of the father, finds out about his infidelity, she sends her sons from a previous marriage, military pilots Angus and Dorian Montier, to scare the living daylights out of him. Their gunship does such a good job, without hitting him, that he dies from a heart attack. Worrying about radio interference that night, they investigate who might have heard too much within the fairly empty reception perimeter, and soon discover only Sally could, still ignorant about her affair with his step-dad Henry. Dorian takes a job there to be sure, but soon falls for her himself, while mother-obsessed moron Angus would do anything to anyone for her honor...
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What does it want to be--black comedy or romantic comedy?
awkward and not quite working
Henry Lever tells pregnant burger drive-thru girl Sally Jackson (Drew Barrymore) that he told his wife but it doesn't impress her. On the drive home, he encounters a military helicopter. Pilot Angus Montier (Jake Busey) scares him to death despite his brother Dorian (Luke Wilson)'s protest. The brothers and Sally's radio get crossed up at the same frequency. The brothers are actually Henry's wife Beatrice Lever (Catherine O'Hara)'s boys. They start to worry and Dorian gets a job at the burger place to investigate if anybody understands what they heard.
It tries to be quirky. Drew Barrymore is adorable. Luke Wilson has the boyish looks. However something is off. It's a black comedy without laughs. It's awkward and not cute. It starts with using an attack helicopter to scare a guy to death. It's threatening and unreal. It tries to be funny but it's not working for me.
Drew Needs To Be More Discerning With Her Scripts
Drew Barrymore is cute and she has her loyal fans but, man, this woman makes so many lame movies. To her credit, some of her movies, like "Ever After," are nice films - no language problems and a film the family could safely watch which certainly is opposite of her wild, earlier days when she was exposing herself on the David Letterman show, and other incidents. Barrymore has since played a few more of those nice characters, so I am not knocking her. It's just that so many of her films are "Lifetime" cable TV Grade B chick flicks. This one, however - be warned - is a much darker film than advertised. It's not exactly the sweet romance story you might think.
What hurt this movie, in my opinion, wasn't Barrymore so much as it was Luke Wilson. Is there a dumber looking face in Hollywood than his? I'm sorry but with that dumb expression I cannot buy him as an "intelligent" person as he is supposed to be in this story. Of course, the filmmakers deliberately had him making these goofy faces, which is confusing if he is supposed to come across as someone with brains. He doesn't look it, nor does the script make this an intelligent film, either. It's supposed to be a comedy but you tell me how many laughs you got watching the first 45 minutes in here? I didn't get many, if any, and by then had lost interest.
Hopefully, Drew will have better luck finding more intelligent scripts in the future, or at least stories with a plot to them!