Following Roger Ebert's 2013 death, Alan Zweibel wrote a piece for the New Yorker entitled "Roger and Me", in which he recounted bumping into Ebert, introducing himself, then saying "And I just have to tell you, Roger, that sweater you're wearing? I hate, hate, hate, hate, hate that sweater." Then they both laughed and shook hands.
Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel has named this one of the worst films they'd ever reviewed. Ebert wrote "I hated this movie. Hated, hated, hated, hated, hated this movie. Hated it. Hated every simpering stupid vacant audience-insulting moment of it. Hated the sensibility that thought anyone would like it. Hated the implied insult to the audience by its belief that anyone would be entertained by it." Ebert later went on to say that the movie made him "cringe... just sitting here thinking about it." Siskel said that it made him feel "unclean." The clip of their review would go on to become a popular Internet meme associated with bad movie reviews. When Rob Reiner was roasted at the New York Friar's Club, he read the review and said, "If you read between the lines, [the review] isn't really that bad." Screenwriter Alan Zweibel keeps a clipping of the review in his wallet, sometimes reading it at public appearances. Ebert's review eventually became so notorious (arguably more so than the film itself) that he later released a collection of negative reviews titled "I Hated, Hated, Hated This Movie."
Screenwriter Alan Zweibel's son attended school with the son of Hollywood "superagent" Michael Ovitz. One day, the two got into a verbal altercation in which Ovitz's son said (as an insult) "Your dad wrote 'North'!" Zweibel was happy to learn that his son responded with "At least people like my father!"
Kathy Bates disliked the script initially and was also advised to turn down the movie by her agent. She only agreed to appear because she felt indebted to Rob Reiner as he had directed her to an Oscar winning performance four years earlier in Misery (1990). She felt working with Reiner again was necessary as her way of saying thank you for Reiner's help in her winning the Oscar.