This is part of a series of No Shame Movie Reviews. For reasons I won’t speculate and rant about now, we have been told that only some movies are worth enjoying. Only artsy movies with a meaningful and/or ambiguous message, perhaps. To that, I say phooey. I say that you should be able to watch and enjoy any movie you want – from low-budget children’s movies to dramas about the hopelessly romantic. If you enjoy them, then why the heck should you not be able to watch them without shame?
Before I rewatched Yours, Mine & Ours to write this review, the only scene I could distinctly remember involved raucous little boys, underwear soaked in meat, and a very enthusiastic/hungry dog. But then it turns out that was actually a scene in Cheaper by the Dozen. Whoops. Despite that, I had remembered the essence of Yours, Mine & Ours correctly. There are lots of raucous little boys, kids and dogs and a pig and a mouse running everywhere, and pranks galore. Just not that specific one.
Yours, Mine & Ours is about the merging of two big families into one ridiculously huge family. Frank (Dennis Quaid), a Coast Guard admiral, runs into (and immediately marries) his high school sweetheart Helen (Rene Russo). His eight order-following kids now have to move in to a big old lighthouse with her ten free-spirited kids. Needless to say, chaos ensues—including a plot to break up Frank and Helen (think reverse-Parent Trap times nine).
At first, the two families seem to be so different. The beginning of this movie in particular reads as a study of contrasts—cold with warm, order with insanity, barked orders with group hugs. But despite these wildly opposite surfaces, Frank and Helen’s families have some remarkable parallels. A teenaged son and daughter apiece who help (somewhat) keep their parent sane and everyone alive. An adorable preschool son. A big group of siblings who love each other and have each other’s backs. And a lonely parent—widowed, overwhelmed, and lonely without being willing to admit it. They’re two sides of the exact same coin. That’s why they clash, and that’s why they end up fitting together so well.
Yours, Mine & Ours is a fun movie that made me cry, just a little bit, near the end. All things considered, that’s probably my favorite type of movie. Despite so much of the plot being driven by eighteen kids up to no good, Yours, Mine & Ours finds plenty of places for small, intimate moments between characters. It shows the kids reluctantly bonding with each other, despite their wildly different worldviews. It shows how much Helen and Frank love each other, despite the fact that they’re still figuring each other out. It shows that the parents really want what’s best for all of the kids–not just their biological children.
It shows the crazy and confusing and caring relationships that build a family, especially one that’s this big and blended. And it does so by making you smile and laugh through it all.
And there we have it. Just a few of the reasons that you should not be ashamed to watch and enjoy Yours, Mine & Ours. If you have any ideas for a movie that you want me to review, then leave it in a comment below! Bad, fun, silly, adorable, enjoyable, romantic, anything that you shouldn’t be ashamed to watch and love! (Bonus cookies if it’s also on Netflix.)
Image Credit: Moviepostershop, Netflix