Adopted as a child, new father Mel Colpin decides he cannot name his son until he knows his birth parents, and determines to make a cross-country quest to find them. Accompanied by his wife, Nancy, and an inept yet gorgeous adoption agent, Tina, he departs on an epic road trip that quickly devolves into a farce of mistaken identities, wrong turns, and overzealous and love-struck ATF agents.
The perpetual motion is a deliciously hysterical rush. This offbeat, documentary-like comedy becomes geometrically funnier as it goes along.
– Desson Thomson,
Washington Post,
1 Jan 2000
fresh:
Hang on and prepare to laugh continually.
– Susan Wloszczyna,
USA Today,
1 Jan 2000
fresh:
There are conventions in this sort of story, and Russell seems to violate most of them. He allows the peculiarities of his characters to lead them away from the plot line and into perplexities of their own.
– Roger Ebert,
Chicago Sun-Times,
1 Jan 2000
fresh:
This whacked-out road comedy about a young man's search for his real parents takes any number of unexpected turns, most of them bitingly funny.
– Todd McCarthy,
Variety,
26 Mar 2009
fresh:
David O. Russell has a twisted mind; I like that in a man.