Let me lead off with being a fan of nearly every performer in this movie. I've seen, and gone out of my way to see, most of these actors works, whether it be on TV or the big screen. I know family friendly comedies will be safe, middle-of-the-road and take few risks so I watch it with all these expectations. Safe but entertaining, amusing and a chance to see some faces you don't see much these days (Hal Linden, Julia Duffy, Barry Bostwick, George Wendt, James Hong, Linda Gray). The idea of a stymied author making some much needed money on the side by taking in various elderly folks in the neighborhood so they can also keep his newly-moved-in father-in-law (Danny Trejo) company is fine. However, some of these folks aren't that old, yet they have them behave...across the board...as decrepit, frail, clueless, just out of it. Take every old person stereotype you can think of, it's here. Take every old person "joke" and it's them. The writer of the movie seems to have forgotten that old people don't think of themselves as old, most of the time. They are just people that sometimes get held back by their age, but their interests and desires are not "old". The people in this were young in the 60s, 70s and 80s, but they don't use references or show interests that reflect that. Again, it's just really rough, broad stereotypes, skeletons of characters never fleshed out. A movie that could have been Grumpy Old Men (and Women) on steroids becomes a cringe-worthy exercise in laughing *at*, not with, the elderly. The cast deserved so much better than this.
