The Guilt TripMovie Reviews

The Guilt Trip Showtimes + Tickets

So-so

Avg. Critic Score: 50 out of 100 Mixed or average reviews Metascore^® based on all critic reviews

Information for Parents:

OK for kids 13+

Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

75

San Francisco Chronicle | Mick LaSalle
There are laughs throughout, but Guilt Trip isn't joke-happy. The humor is light and well observed, as when Mom keeps playing the audiobook of "Middlesex," and the son gets uncomfortable hearing about anything sexual in front of his mother. Read full review
75

Chicago Tribune | Michael Phillips
Well, it's a masterpiece compared with 'Little Fockers,' the last movie featuring Barbra Streisand. Read full review
75

Miami Herald | Connie Ogle
The humor is mostly gentle in nature; The Guilt Trip is clearly targeted at older audiences less than receptive to the crude jokes that made Rogen famous in movies like "Knocked Up" and "Zack and Miri Make a Porno." Read full review
67

Entertainment Weekly | Lisa Schwarzbaum
The Guilt Trip is not about Rogen, bubbeleh. Streisand is her own once-in-a-lifetime trip, looking gawjuss with that divine voice and those killer fingernails, and the sight of the lady scarfing down four pounds of beef at a Texas steak joint is one a Streisand lover can now cross off her bucket list. Read full review
63

Boston Globe | Ty Burr
The movie's silly, predictable, and surprisingly sweet - the sort of thing you can and probably should take your mother to. Read full review
60

Movieline |
The film's feel-good message is undermined by its ultimate purpose: As a vindication of the rights of Jewish mothers to annoy their children as much as they please. Read full review
50

The Hollywood Reporter | Todd McCarthy
A creakily old-fashioned comedy that forgot to pack the laughs along with the nudging and kvetching. Read full review
40

New York Daily News | Elizabeth Weitzman
While the actors are appealing, their weirdly co-dependent characters aren't. And they don't learn enough to balance out the bland, intermittently irritating nature of their adventures. Read full review
40

Wall Street Journal | Joe Morgenstern
The pretext of the movie, which was directed in broadbrush-cartoon style by Anne Fletcher from a coarse-textured script by Dan Fogelman, is a road trip taken by mother, Joyce, and son, Andrew. Read full review
38

USA Today | Claudia Puig
Audiences deserve a resounding "mea culpa" for the embarrassing dreck, masquerading as comedy, in The Guilt Trip. Read full review

Metacritic link View more reviews for The Guilt Trip on Metacritic

Information for Parents

Common Sense Media says OK for kids 13+ Stereotypical mother-son comedy is predictably corny.

What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that The Guilt Trip is a mother-son comedy that occasionally includes some mature language, humor, and themes. The strong language is occasional but does include one "f--k" and several uses of "s--t," "ass," "damn," and more. There's some mention of sexuality and dating, as well as a couple of brief instances of Joyce (Barbra Streisand) flirting on the road. Because of the nature of Andy's (Seth Rogen) job, he visits the headquarters of many real companies, including Ace Hardware, Costco, Home Shopping Network, and Kmart. In one scene, Andy gets into a brief fist fight with a man trying to give his already-drunk mom another drink. Ultimately the movie's message is that mothers and sons may not always get along, but they should love and respect each other unconditionally.

Families can talk about movies featuring strong mother-and-child story lines. How is the mom in The Guilt Trip a stereotypical nagging mother? How else could the character have been portrayed?
What do Joyce and Andy learn about each other on their trip? How does their relationship change because of it?
Why do you think the filmmaker decided to include real brands in the movie instead of made-up ones? Does it add or take away from the story?

The good stuff

Positive messages: The movie's ultimate message is to honor your parents and not take them for granted. The road trip proves that even when your mom drives you crazy, she's still deserving of respect and usually has your best interests at heart.
Positive role models: Joyce might be perceived as nagging, but she's a concerned, loving mother who just wants to help her son and spend as much time with him as possible. Andy is bothered by his mother's constant communication and interest in his everyday life, but he comes around once he's calm enough to see his mother's point of view -- and realize that she's actually got a point sometimes.

What to watch for

Violence: Defending his drunk mom's honor, Andy punches a cowboy suitor in the face and then gets punched in the eye in response. Joyce warns Andy not to pick up any hitchhikers, because they "rape."
Sexy stuff: Andy watches in amusement as a wealthy Texan flirts with his mother and asks whether he can take her out on a date back in New York City. Andy and Joyce discuss how she told him about sex and then what his penis looked like when he was a baby. Joyce plays audiobooks in the car that are a little sexually explicit, but Andy shuts them off once they start getting too racy. Andy and Joyce stop by a strip bar, and viewers can see women dancing in the background.
Language: One memorable use of "f--k," plus occasional use of "holy s--t," "bulls--t," "goddamn," "oh my God," "ass," "idiotic," "stupid," "hell," "whoring," and more. A son speaks harshly to his mother in one scene, saying "just shut up, shut up, shut up." Joyce refers to one of Andy's ex-girlfriends as "Oriental," but he explains that's "not remotely an acceptable term."
Consumerism: Since Andy is pitching a cleaning product to various companies, viewers see the logos and facilities of various stores, including Ace Hardware, Costco, Kmart, and the Home Shopping Network. The road trip is done in a small Chevy Aveo, and they listen to the audiobook of Oprah's Book Club novel Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. Joyce has a nightly routine of eating M&Ms and is obsessed with the Gap. Andy wears a J Crew suit to his meetings.
Drinking, drugs and smoking: Joyce drinks to excess in Texas and then recreationally in Las Vegas. Andy drinks in anger after a week of frustration.

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