"Yours, Mine and Ours” (Paramount Pictures)
Back in 1968 Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball had a hit movie titled “Yours, Mine & Ours.” It involved a man with a lot of kids who married a widow with a lot of kids. Fonda’s sternness played well off of Ball’s looseness. Now the film has been remade with Dennis Quaid and Rene Russo in the Fonda/Ball roles and the story is as enchanting as ever.
Quaid plays Frank Beardsley, an Admiral in the Coast Guard, who is a widower with eight children. Russo plays Helen North, who has also been widowed. She has ten children. Frank and Helen were high school sweethearts and when they meet again after many years have passed they find the attraction is still there.
They elope and then break the news to their kids that they are all moving in together. The combined families live in a house with a lighthouse attached. They have eighteen kids, several dogs, a housekeeper (Linda Hunt) and a pig.
Getting the two families merged is not easy. Helen is more of a free spirit while Frank is a rigid disciplinarian. Her kids have never been spanked, Frank believes in “spare the rod….” They love each other but the difference in philosophy is troubling.
Quaid and Russo are perfectly cast. They are both handsome people and they have the sparks of good charisma between them. They seem natural around each other and around all the kids.
The actors who play the children make them enjoyable without being cloying or totally brattish. Rip Torn and Jerry O’Connell play supporting parts.
“Yours, Mine and Ours” is predictable from start to finish. There are no surprises involved. Still that is what makes it so appealing. You know that this is going to be a happy ever after type of film.
The movie is rated PG and why I do not know. I don’t remember a single word of profanity being uttered. And the most adult situation is the kids having a keg party or the housekeeper drinking a martini. I guess the studio was afraid a “G” rating would just turn off a large segment of the audience.
“Yours, Mine and Ours” is a funny, warm-hearted look at two people combining their families. It worked for “The Brady Bunch” and it works here. Love, humor, happiness – it’s all here. So what’s not to like!
I scored “Yours, Mine and Ours” a blended 7 out of 10.
