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Infatuated with Liza Taylor (Tara Raid) the boss's daughter, Tom Stansfield (Ashton Kutcher), a
researcher in a Chicago publishing company, grabs every opportunity to ingratiate himself to her. Jack Taylor (Terence Stamp) is a mean and nasty boss who reads unintended
negative meanings into everything one says and terrorizes his employees by firing them for the flimsiest reasons. Yet, when Liza invites Tom to her house on a Saturday
evening, he is overjoyed. His enthusiasm is dampened however when he realizes why he is invited. Liza has to housesit on Saturday evenings but now that she has found
Tom to stand-in for her, she happily goes partying somewhere. Jack entrusts to Tom the responsibility of caring for his house and pets and then goes out.
Housesitting turns out to be a nightmare for Tom as bums invade the house. They eat and drink with abandon while they turn the house upside down. Tom himself adds
to the havoc as he trips, crashes into expensive fixtures when he tries to catch the boss's precious pets which have escaped their coops. Considering his unpleasant
experiences, will Tom earn points with Liza? How will he answer to the boss?
The film is quite a contradiction. It is structured like a comedy and is called such but it
hardly makes people laugh, not even to chuckle. There is no wit. And the humor is nothing but ridiculous toilet humor. There's no plot, not
much of a story. All it has is a string of thoughtless bungling, and unrealistic missteps, intended perhaps to be funny but turn out to be boring. This slapstick
comedy is populated by misfits or weirdos who do not amuse nor appeal in any way. This film is not much of a credit to the director David Zucker and the lead actors who may
have done better in other films.
The movie has one saving grace. It shows that wrongs in a dysfunctional family can be
righted. The tyrannical father realizes his errors (like prioritizing his pets over his children) and tries to do right by his son and daughter. And the children accept
the father's change of heart without rancor. Then there is this naïve young man Tom to whom all wrong things seem to happen. With a slight personality change, he
improve things in his life. The film shows that bad things may happen to good people but such bad things may disguise as good luck. Parents however, must guide the youngsters
so they may have a clear distinction between gross or vulgar acts and acceptable behavior especially as regards bodily functions (i.e. no relieving oneself in front of people,
drunk or not). We rate the film for viewers 14 and above because of its coarse humor and vulgarity.
(Date Reviewed: October 24, 2003)
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