Yours, Mine and Ours: Movie Review

Cover via Amazon

Movies are about expectations. Sure, some movies promise a lot and not deliver and some that you expect to be disappointing turn out to be little gems. But that rarely happens, doesn’t it? I have hardly ever been disappointed by Jack Nicholson for instance. Even if you don’t like the story, you know his acting will save the movie. Or if Gerard Butler is playing in an action movie, you know you are in for a treat.

But with most movies, you can tell you what you are going to get even through the poster. Yours, Mine and Ours is such a movie. It is loud, chaotic, family-friendly, unoriginal and yet fun if you are in the mood for something very familiar.

I have read some horrible reviews which downright said the movie was crap. But it all depends on expectations and mood, doesn’t it?  I like Dennis Quaid, and I like Rene Russo. I have a relatively small-sized family and it is fun to imagine what it would be like to have tons of brothers and sisters. This movie is not different in anyway. It is a remake of the movie of the same name done in 1968. But to be fair, I don’t think the subject of a man and woman with many kids each marrying and finding that the result a disaster wasn’t new or original in 1968 either.

The ever lovely Dennis Quaid

Helen (Rene Russo) & Frank (Dennis Quaid) are high school sweethearts who have gone their separate ways. Now, Helen has 4 biological and 6 adopted kids. She is a fashion designer and has lost her husband a couple of years ago. She and her kids love their colorful and chaotic lives. Helen isn’t even considering dating- who would want a woman with 10 kids, right?

Frank’s situation is similar. He has 8 biological kids and his wife passed away some years ago.

However he is in the navy and his household is run by order and plan. He runs into Helen years later and they both realize, the spark is still very much there. And who better to date a person who has their own crowded household, right? Only they don’t date. They get married right away; shocking/annoying the hell out of their kids. How the hell are order and chaos going to live in harmony???

It is rated 4.5 on IMDB and I think it should have been 5. It is not original. It is for old-fashioned family entertainment with jokes you have seen before. It is for people who like watching Quaid or Russo no matter what the role. But to rate it 1 or 2 is downright weird.