A decent but unremarkable slapstick comedy, full of absurd exaggerations, some funny gags and little more. The theaters used to be full of this, but somehow audiences stopped caring for them in the sound era and this sort of humor found its final resting place in Warner Brothers cartoons. Now they don't even know how to make those right any more. Sad really, but looking at this shows you how it can be done.
3 Reviews
super uneven but has some wonderful moments
planktonrules6 July 2006
Warning: Spoilers
This is an odd little film about a family that can't seem to find a good place to live. The film begins as they live in a home that looks normal at first, but was constructed entirely of thick cardboard! As they move about or the wind blows, the house shimmies and sways! To make things worse, the house is a duplex and they are forever annoying their neighbors. For example, when they nail a picture on the wall, the hammer goes right through it,...or their entire body! After the house almost completely falls apart, the landlord comes and evicts them for being "too rough with the house"! Later, we see them camping out in a variety of locations and this portion of the film just isn't as funny. The only memorable gag in this portion is during the boating scene--and THAT'S funny! Overall, this is a very uneven film. For the first five or ten minutes, I was thrilled, but didn't last. It just seemed like they ran out of ideas and the film lost its momentum.
Silly, But Entertaining
Snow Leopard27 January 2003
It's pretty silly, but this short comedy ends up being entertaining anyway, with its good-natured satire on "Family Life". Right from the beginning, with the opening gag about the Duff family and their sleeping arrangements, you know that it's not going to take itself too seriously, and also that it will combine creative gags with silly characters. It goes on to follow the Duffs and their neighbors in a series of completely implausible yet generally entertaining escapades. Some of the developments make little sense, but most of the comedy material works well enough. It moves quickly, and most of it is enjoyable.
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