Family Honeymoon

Calling all Claudette and Fred fans: they've made another comedy together! Family Honeymoon is definitely one of the cute ones, so if you liked The Egg and I, you'll love it.

It's a twist from the previous year's plot. Instead of Claudette throwing her life away to join Fred on his farm and raise chickens, Fred throws his life away to join her! Claudette is a widow with three children, and Fred is a lifelong bachelor. When he marries her, he's determined to have a wonderful and easy marriage. After all, she got along raising the kids without him, didn't she? He won't really have to do anything fatherly, will he?

For those of you who are laughing already, you'll love this silly comedy. On their honeymoon, they take the kids along, to make it a real family bonding experience. Hattie McDaniel, Claudette's housekeeper from Since You Went Away, knows it's a bad idea, but she doesn't know exactly how disastrous it'll prove to be. Entrusting a bachelor with three small kids while visiting the Grand Canyon opens the door to all sorts of disasters - all of them hilarious! Watch this one when you're in the mood to put your kids in the playroom and lock the door. Or if you want to be glad you don't have any kids.

Family Honeymoon is one of those comedy movies where you're supposed to laugh at people's misfortunes. Bad things kept happening to the people in the movie, one after the other. These misfortunes were supposed to be funny but they were really just too sad to be that funny.

It's ridiculous and not because of the kids but because of the ex- girlfriend who is able to fool Fred. I love all the other films where Claudette Colbert (one of my favorite actresses) and Fred McMurray (one of my favorite actors) team up together because it's always a winning combination but it was beginning to get annoying mid-way and I would rather watch another film with them in it again than waste my time on this. Sorry, but it's the truth unfortunately.

When the story begins, Katie and Grant (Claudette Colbert and Fred MacMurray) are about to get married. It's an unusual marriage because Katie is a widow with three kids and Grant is getting an instant family. However, he gets a more instant family than he anticipated, as Katie's sister breaks her leg at the wedding and cannot stay to watch the kids while Grant and Katie go on their honeymoon...so they are forced to take them with them on their trip to the Grand Canyon.

The problems are many on the way to the Canyon...and the boys accidentally get left behind at one of the train stations! Now, instead of spending time canoodling at the natural wonder, they don't have a minute together because of the kids. Can it get any worse? Well...yes...when Grant's ex-girlfriend shows up!!

Up until the family arrived at the Grand Canyon, I enjoyed the movie. However, once at the Canyon the film took a huge nose dive. First, the children began behaving abominably...so much it stopped being fun. It's also quite odd that the new couple never really worked out how to parent these brats....and at the Canyon they are indeed brats. This brattishness was not fun to watch. Second, when the ex-girlfriend showed up...ditto. It just stopped being fun and started being frustrating and anything but fun. If an ex-girlfriend showed up on ANYONE'S honeymoon it would be like a declaration of war! Talk about unrealistic and tiresome! As a result, a cute little film soon became tedious and hard to enjoy. It was no longer a comedy nor a romance...just an exercise in frustration and about as much fun as a migraine. Plus, at the end, NONE of these issues had been worked out...leaving the viewer wondering what's next!

I saw this movie once on TV and have not forgotten it. It was entertaining with the strained relationship of Colbert and Fred McMurray and the back and forth snipping that the old comedies were so famous for. Let's face it, these two just have great chemistry together and are masters at that kind of domestic comedy. The honeymoon with the kids at the Grand Canyon is everyone's nightmare and you have to laugh at their plight with the honeymoon sabotaged by those out of control kids. What I loved so much were the views of the Lodge at the South Rim and just the opportunity to see the Grand Canyon from a time lost forever. Some of the shots are amazing. If this one ever came out on DVD I would buy it because it is fun light hearted entertainment done only as these two know how to do it.