The Guilt Trip

In this gently humorous road movie with a twist, Seth Rogen plays an organic chemist heading out on a make-or-break journey across America to pitch a wonder cleaning product he's invented. When his domineering mother (Barbra Streisand) reveals she still harbours thoughts of her first love as a teenager, Rogen decides to take her along, secretly tracking down her former beau in the hope she may find happiness in her autumn years. The tale motors by at a brisk pace, albeit fairly predictably, with director Anne Fletcher stopping off to fill up at the requisite comic and redemptive points. It never quite delivers juggernaut-sized laughs, but the sharp-tongued sparring between the two leads pops and fizzes throughout, with Streisand in particular showing she's still an intuitive and naturalistic comedian.