I found this on Netflix streaming movies. I watched it on a rainy morning just to kill time, expecting it to be a "dumb" comedy but came away somewhat amazed how good it is. Each role is acted just right and the situations are always surprising and interesting. This is a nice little gem of a movie.
A movie like this thrives or dies on the lead role, and Olesya Rulin is just perfect as 16-yr-old Emily, even though the actress is in her mid-20s. Tiny at 5 feet tall, and with a youthful face and big eyes like Zooey Deschanel, her acting style fits the part.
Emily is an organized person and as the movie starts she is getting ready to compete in the sport that is her passion, solo speed jump rope. She places first at the regional, in her home area in Michigan, but in spite of the post-it note reminders she left for her mom, her dad, her sister, and her two brothers, none of her family showed up to see her compete.
Most 16-yr-olds would just mope, maybe take drugs, maybe tell everyone how uncaring her family is, but Emily is not your usual 16-yr-old. She decides an intervention is called for so she prepares an evening meal, forces each family member to sit at the table, then spikes the wine of her parents. When they pass out she does the only sensible thing, she ties them to chairs, making them her prisoners until they can all get a better understanding and commitment to making their family work better as a unit.
Kristin Chenoweth is the hard-working, driven business woman Samantha. Matthew Modine is the hippy-dippy artist Duncan who has his studio upstairs in the home. Emily's younger sister is Joey King as Lucy, who is always dressing up as some movie character, but she is delightful. For me it was fun seeing one of my favorites from an earlier generation, Shirley Jones as the grandma, "GG ".
This is a very funny comedy with novel writing, but it also has a good core of a message, that family members listening to each other and doing important things together matters.
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