The Daytrippers

Wonderful film about love and betrayal. Amazing cast that provides laughs in all of the right places. Anne Meara was incredible as the mother and Parker Posey was hilarious as usual. I was intrigued from the beginning to the end and highly recommend The Daytrippers.

This is a hilarious film... beautifully-written, hysterically-acted, excellently directed. Rent it. See it. Liev Schrieber is great, and so is Parker Posey. Greg Mottola will be, one day, a great director. He's also a very funny writer, and was able to make a story that's both moving and funny.

A Long Island woman finds a love letter in her house and suspects her husband of cheating. Her over-protective (and very pro-active) family convinces her to confront her husband at his workplace in Manhattan. They all (wife, mom, dad, sister and sister's boyfriend) pile into the station wagon to hunt down the scoundrel. In their efforts to find him they meet a bunch of interesting characters and learn a little bit more about their own feelings for one another.

This movie is so sweet in its examination of family loyalty and so honest in its examination of long-failed relationships in denial that I feel it is easily one of the most satisfying video rentals I've ever experienced. There's enough comedy throughout to provide laughs (especially any and all jokes at the expense of Liev Schreiber's pretentious novelist) and the realistic sisterly affection shared by Parker Posey and Hope Davis is genuinely touching.

Also provides a subtle examination of the Long Islander's relationship to Manhattan - the latter acting as an unfamiliar, answerless maze through which the family has to pass in order to find the truth.

Daytrippers is a progressive drama about a family that takes an adventure into New York City after Eliza (Hope Davis) discovers a love letter that may uncover an affair between her husband and somebody named Sandy. Anne Meara does a good job as the typical East Coast, controlling mother. The indie-film queen Parker Posey plays Eliza's little sister whose boyfriend Carl, played by Liev Schreiber, is an exaggeration of the young, snobbish, know-it-all author. The family is hardly functional which makes this film particularly honest.

The key to Daytrippers is not the plot, which never fails to keep you watching, but the dialogue and the situations. Pay close attention to the characters that the family meets in the city. They all embody some kind of contradictions that make you think a little bit. Look for the scene where Marc Grapey begins describing his sexual exploits by condemning such practices.

If you are looking for a drama that provokes you, this is one of them. There are no happy endings and none of the issues raised are resolved. Fans of Parker Posey will especially enjoy her performance in this one.

Underrated and underseen. Daytrippers is like a younger Woody Allen, mixing comedy with angst. Fresh and funny, real and absurd, empathetic. Terrific first movie as writer/ director.