Product Details

• Actors: Kyle Howard, Russel Harper, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Pollak, Amy Sakasitz
• Directors: Harry Winer
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Hbo Home Video
• VHS Release Date: August 19, 1997
• Run Time: 111 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6304297580
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #3,782 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
When the Beindorf's announce to their kids that they're getting a divorce, the kids come up with a quick fix by locking them together in the basement in a hilarious comedy that sets out to prove there's more than one way to keep a marriage together.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A very funny and heartwarming family movie!, January 20, 1998

By A Customer

If you have kids fourteen and under, I think they'll really enjoy this movie. Jamie Lee Curtis and Kevin Pollak play a couple who get locked in the basement by their children because the children think they need to spend more time together. Soon other kids decide their parents need some "time out" too, which leads to many very funny situations between the kids and their parent-hostages. Our children loved seeing Jennifer Love Hewitt, one of the stars of "Party of Five," and we really enjoyed Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Pollak, and Jennifer Tilly. A lot of fun! END

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Lot of Fun, March 2, 2003

By	sullivan_gurl "sullivan_gurl" (Canada) - See all my reviews

This movie is a lot of fun. The basic plot is, two kids Grover and Stacey, lock their parents in the basement after they break the news that they are getting seperated. Grover and Stacey think that all they need is time to work out their problems. Soon Grover's friends decide their parents could use some help, and bring them over. The kids try to help their parents as the parents try to escape. A nosy neighbour across the street is constantly watching, but the kids are determined to get their parents back together. This movie is definitley fun for the whole family.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It's perfectly OK to laugh in the face of adversity., April 12, 2001

By	Ben Riddle (Cuyahoga Falls, OH USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Here is one of the most unusual movies I've ever seen. Grover and his sister Stacey put together a home movie featuring some of their parents' best moments as an eighteenth anniversary present. They soon find out that something is wrong after their parents give them the news of their impending seperation. After his best friend "tips him off", so to speak, Grover and Stacey come up with a novel plan.

The kids decorate the basement to look like Hawaii, where their parents spent their honeymoon. But after Mom and Dad start quibbling over the anniversary cake, Grover decides to take matters into his own hands by locking his parents in the basement. He figures that after a night alone together, Mom and Dad will be able to work out their problems once and for all.

It doesn't work that way, of course. The hilarity level of the movie just gets higher and higher after some of Grover's friends lock their parents in the basement with his own; what starts with a "prison sentence" turns into a all-encompassing group therapy session as all of the parents get to know one another while plotting a means of escape.

The reason I'm only giving this movie four stars is because of the happy Hollywood ending. Not to give more of the plot away, but the plan winds up working, which is not at all typical of real divorce cases. I'm also tempted to call this film a black comedy, since watching it caused me to laugh at things which I wouldn't normally find funny. But maybe that can be a good thing sometimes.