Raising 6 children, three boys and three girls, in the wilderness would be hard enough. Training them to be skilled hunters, gifted at self defense and schooling them effectively would be beyond the skills of most parents. But this Dad isn't most people. His oldest son speaks 6 languages and is accepted to Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Brown and M.I.T. His youngest girl can recite or explain the Bill of Rights. All six children are able rock climbers and very fit. In keeping with the politics of the day they are followers of Noam Chomsky and more than just a little left of Bernie Sanders. All of this already strains credulity and is it really necessary?
So, when the children and their father decide to leave their retreat in the woods to attend their mother's funeral, we are sure that there will be a culture clash. The excesses of this clash are to be expected after the excesses of the characterization of the children. The mere fact that these children grow up in the wilderness does not mean that their parents would have failed to provide any social skills whatsoever. This makes the culture clash setup less believable and true to life. If there might have been any issues that the audience is expected to think about, the way the characters are drawn detracts so much that any serious issues that could have been raised are no longer relevant.
Perhaps this is the reason this movie is listed BOTH as a comedy AND a Drama. But it succeeds at neither. My long car trip to see it was really not worth the effort.
So, when the children and their father decide to leave their retreat in the woods to attend their mother's funeral, we are sure that there will be a culture clash. The excesses of this clash are to be expected after the excesses of the characterization of the children. The mere fact that these children grow up in the wilderness does not mean that their parents would have failed to provide any social skills whatsoever. This makes the culture clash setup less believable and true to life. If there might have been any issues that the audience is expected to think about, the way the characters are drawn detracts so much that any serious issues that could have been raised are no longer relevant.
Perhaps this is the reason this movie is listed BOTH as a comedy AND a Drama. But it succeeds at neither. My long car trip to see it was really not worth the effort.