Reviews

*** SPOILER ALERT ***

*** Plot points mentioned in review. ***

I took my five year old grandson to see this movie while the car was in for its 60000km service in the next suburb.

The movie was entertaining. As an adult of retirement age, I have sat through lots of disappointing movies over the years as my five grandchildren have pleaded to see various movies on show at local cinemas.

This movie was was not excellent but it was very good. Steve Carell and Jennifer Garner play parents in the 40-45 yo age bracket with four children 16yo, 14yo, 12yo and 18 months.

AATTHNGVBD focuses on the 12yo, Alexander and, specifically, the day of his 12th birthday.

You do have to suspend disbelief a long way on its rope to imagine a parent as easy-going and optimistic as Steve Carell's father character. Nothing fazes this man until what he perceives as a failed follow-up job interview after seven long months unemployed/retrenched.

The mother, played by Jennifer Garner, is a lot calmer than most mums in slapstick sit-com misfortune movies ... but not quite as laid back as her on screen husband.

Probably the performance of Kerris Dorsey rates the best of the co-stars. As the 14yo old sister, she is very good. I expect we'll see a lot more of her as a young teen or young woman over the next few years. Poise and articulateness.

Ed Oxenbould, the kid-star playing Alexander is well-known her in Australia for a string of roles. He's born into an acting family, most notably his uncle Ben Oxenbould, whom young Ed should easily surpass in the coming years.

Like all good family movies targeting young viewers, two great family values are brought to the fore which is good for young viewers: (1) family comes first. (This is heavily emphasised throughout the movie, particularly the parent players. The kids in the movie tie this together in the last 20 minutes.) (2) Mistakes can and do happen but you can rise above them.

My only disappointment was the suspending of the disbelief that a family with one employed adult and four children to feed could survive seven months living in a huge two-storey McMansion with two late-model people-mover vehicles and afford what they buy in the movie ... including the very expensive party with two expensive side-shows for the birthday party. But hey, this is Hollywood and the silver screen, eh?

N.B. A lot of children under six years in the audience were not well engaged with this movie until the last half. My grandson, also, was more excited after the "car crashes" happened and the party theme at the end.

Just saw this in Australia (Sun 21st July, 2013). Apparently the common USA title is "Gone in A Heartbeat". A good 16 year old tele-movie for a Sunday afternoon. Reasonable performances from a bunch of B-list cast members. Good storyline. The pace was, in the main, slow to moderate. Background music well chosen and well placed. The only bloke I recognised was the actor playing Mr Ross, the science teacher. The rest were really unknown. The grilling at the police station was a tad far-fetched compared to what we've become used to in ransom/kidnap genre films. A solid 8/10 over all. This was better, much better than the "filler time slot" into which it was placed between nation football offerings.