Yours, Mine & Ours

on August 01, 2008 by Tim Cogshell
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The 1968 version of "Yours, Mines and Ours," which starred Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda, was based on a true story, so by default the remake is too. We can only hope the real people who inspired this comedy about the melding of two large and disparate families were less spastic than their filmic counterparts.

Helen North (Rene Russo) is a widowed handbag designer with 10 children who tends to stare vacanctly and smile as Frank Beardsley (Dennis Quaid), a Coast Guard Officer similarly fixed with eight kids, falls down in regurgitated food a lot, often hurting himself rather severely. This naturally leads to romance and insane living arrangements. The greatest impression made by "Yours, Mines & Ours" is that all of these people are suffering from various maladies, including hyperactivity and attention deficit disorders.

The entire undertaking is a wholly insincere and contrived attempt to exploit the recent success of "Cheaper By The Dozen," another remake of a better film from the '60s, and it shows. "Yours, Mine & Ours" is a frantic movie that cares less about anything real behind the intermingling of these two families after the loss of spouses than it does filling all its demographic niches for family films released around Christmas. Russo and Quaid aren't beleaguered and bereaved parents trying to find love and make the impossible work, they're Bob and Carol Brady with a few more kids, great abs and nice hair. Starring Dennis Quaid, Rene Russo, Rip Torn and Linda Hunt. Directed by Raja Gosnell. Written by Ron Burch and David Kidd. Produced Robert Simonds and Michael Nathanson. A Paramount release. Comedy. Rated PG for some mild crude humor. Running time: 90 min

Tags: children, family, kids, slapstick comedy, chaos, marriage, Rene Russo, Dennis Quaid, Rip Torn, Linda Hunt, Cheaper By the Dozen, remake, Raja Gosnell
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