Noutions Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

Bereamic Awesome Movie

Allison Davies The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

slightlymad22 This is one of my favourite movies to watch at Christmas. Plot In A Paragraph: Dutch Dooley (The brilliant Ed O'Neill) goes on a cross country road trip to pick up his girl friends obnoxious twelve year old son Doyle (who is refusing to come home for Thanksgiving) from boarding school. I don't understand why this movie flopped as bad as it did, I for one love it, as do both of my kids 16 and 9. Ed O'Neill is as brilliant as he always is (this was released at the height of his TV show "Married With Children" popularity) to some he'll always be Al Bundy, but there is more to O'Neill than that. He is an absolute delight here. Ethan Embry is excellent as both sides to Doyle, it's always nice to see the lovely JoBeth Williams and Christopher McDonald is at his sleazy best whilst an attractive Ari Meyers leaves a lasting impression as Brock. Beautiful shot showing some great scenic shots of America this has a lot of laughs, I still laugh out loud at certain parts of this movie over twenty years later.

grendelkhan Dutch is another in the long line of films from John Hughes (though not the director here). It's not quite at the same level as Breakfast Club or Pretty in Pink, but it is a charming little film in its own right.The film features Ed O'Neil (then appearing on Married with Children) as Dutch Dooley, an unpretentious blue-collar kind of guy, who is dating Jo Beth Williams. Williams is divorced from the wealthy and royal (expletive) Christopher McDonald (playing another in a long line of jerks). McDonald still holds a grudge against his ex, since she found the courage to walk away from him. He gets back at her through controlling her access to money and via the (undeserved) adoration of their son, Doyle. Doyle attends a prestigious boy's school in Virginia. After Willams tries to get Doyle to come home for the holidays, and receives and nasty rejection, Dutch offers to travel to the school and bring Doyle home, giving them a chance to bond.Doyle is a spoiled little (expletive) learning well the lesson of his very absent father. He has no friends, but seems to have no desire for any. Enter Dutch and a battle of wills ensues. Dutch is determined to make friends with the boy, though he quickly finds that it is a tall order. And so, a road trip begins, complete with fireworks, accidents, prostitutes, robbery, and little acts of kindness that slowly start to chink away at Doyle's armor.O'Neil is the star here, ably portraying the working class Dutch. He is a self made man, who is proud of his background and doesn't have time for Doyle's spoiled rich antics, nor his useless father. He attempts to educate Doyle on the ways of the real world, especially those of the common man, who Doyle seems to hold in utter contempt. O'Neil never plays it too far over the top, nor too seriously. he strikes the right balance of humor and drama, letting expression and body language carry as much of the performance as dialogue.Ethan Embry proves to be up to working with a solid character man like O'Neil. He has Doyle down to a tee, making him thoroughly unlikeable and pompous. Bit by bit, the facade starts to fade and we see the smiling young boy depicted in a prised photo (of Doyle and his mother, but kept safely tucked away, lest he admit having feelings). Doyle is truly touched by the kindness of people that he previously sneered at, especially in some wonderful (if manipulative) scenes in a homeless shelter. Doyle soon comes to realize that Dutch, in just a couple of days, has been more of a father than his biological one (who can't be bothered to return a phone call).Jo Beth Williams and Christopher McDonald have the smaller parts, but make the most of their scenes. You believe that Williams truly loves her son, no matter how he treats her. McDonald plays a complete scumbag, but you still enjoy his performance enough to want to see him pop back in, if only to get his comeuppance.As is typical of Hughes, the emotions are heavily manipulated and the scenes pander to the audience, but the performances lift them above the cliché and the emotions seem earned. The journey along the road provides some excellent scenery, as they pass through the Southern mountains and make their way to the upper Midwest, showcasing scenery that Hollywood often ignores. The film is uneven in parts, but the characters are enjoyable enough to forgive this.In the end, Dutch is a movie that was somewhat ignored in its time; just another John Hughes film, with the same gags. This is probably due to the less than stellar marketing, which tried to make O'Neil's Dutch look more like Al Bundy. It's a shame, as the film deserved better. It is well worth checking out, assuming you can find it. The DVD release came and went almost as quietly as the movie. If you find it, though, watch it!

Steve Pulaski Yet, another movie were the antagonist takes advantage of the protagonist's mistakes, and tries to make comical situations out of it, but ending up just failing. It reminds me of "Home Alone 2" were some of the falling scenes sounding like failed punches from a comic book movie. The iconic "cracking of the nose" and other stupid sounds. The only difference between this and "Home Alone 2" is that at least "Home Alone 2" was funny.I know I gave this movie two and a half stars, but for the wrong reason. Let me just say that excluding Ed O'Neill, I hate every character in the movie. The two and a half stars basically go to him since I'm a sucker to see him in movies and portray his funny, middle class self. But this movie got on my last nerve in points.Lets stop and think about how many times we have seen this before, let alone in a John Hughes movie. It's almost like they tried to continue Uncle Buck in points of the film. This movie is very hard to relate to seeing as this kid is spoiled, and yet still miserable. This kid as an annoying, smart ass tone to him which make you want to punch the kid. Plus with a sucker mother, and a comical father, he's not living royalty.Dutch Dooley (Ed O'Neill) has a relationship with single mother Natalie (JoBeth Williams). Making a promise to his girlfriend, he agrees to drive to pick up her twelve-year-old son, Doyle Standish (Ethan Embry) from his private school in hopes that the drive back they will become friends. I have to stop and note that Doyle reminds me of that bratty kid from Full House that had and elegant way of talking and just a certain way of saying everything in a know-it-all way.Then....you guessed it. Doyle and Dutch have a less than brotherly relationship together. In fact, there like two kids fighting over the front seat in the car. The one kid instigates (Dutch), or the guy who tries to have a relationship with the other one, but in an unnatural way. Or like the guy who says "ha ha, I got the front seat." Doyle tries to be mature about it, but yes, in the wrong way. He says things in an annoying way just to be an instigator.This movie is not original at all, it's the same recycled concept we have seen on the big screen and in real life. You know what will happen. The mom's got a new boyfriend, the boyfriend tries to be nice to the kid, the kid pulls juvenile pranks on the adult, the adult takes no grown up charge towards it, then they work it out, movies over, wasted $10. I think thats all the nit-picking I can do on this. In all honesty, this isn't bad, but I've said this before, it goes in every way you would expect it. There's no uniqueness toward the movie.But I will go as far as saying, it's a watchable John Hughes movie. But it doesn't live up to the other forgotten ones like Curly Sue, Flubber, The Great Outdoors, and my second favorite John Hughes movie, Career Opportunities. I also have to be honest in saying that I laughed in parts of this movie. Plus there were a few parts in this that actually stood out that when I look at the title Dutch I'll remember this movie.Starring: Ed O'Neill, Ethan Randall, JoBeth Williams, and Christopher McDonald. Directed by: Peter Faiman.

policy134 First there was Ed O'Neill the dramatic actor, then the comedian and now the star. O'Neill has had a tough time finding new roles that aren't connected with Al Bundy in some way. If you saw the E! True Hollywood Story on MWC you'd know that his scenes were actually re-shot with another actor because the audience couldn't stop saying: "That's Al Bundy!". Here he does an admirable job with basically a decent character but still a few traces of the madness of Bundy. The kid, played by Ethan Randall (Or Embry, whatever) is the most snotty little brat I have ever seen in a movie and according to the trailer he's supposed to be like Bart Simpson. Not true. Bart Simpson occasionally got out of hand but he was kind of decent underneath. Not so with this kid. He is totally rotten and the 180 degree turn he makes at the end is totally unbelievable. He doesn't even seem to care that he almost kills a truck driver at one point. That scene is followed by a slap-sticky fight that tries to imitate the prattfalls of the two burglars in "Home Alone". That undermines the seriousness which have gone before in my opinion.The boy's parents, played by JoBeth Williams and Chris McDonald are only incidental so we don't really know anything about them except that the dad is even meaner than the kid. Because he is so mean, we are supposed to feel sorry for the kid but for that to happen we must first sympathize with him. I couldn't because he is so smarmy all through that the transformation he is supposed to have seems phony. And it's not like some viewers have commented that he needs love. His mother is basically a loving mother. The whole film is about who breaks down first, Dutch or the kid.In Denmark the movie was released under the title "Driving me Crazy" and that is pretty much a description of my state of mind when I watched it. The only reason to see it is because of O'Neill. If you want to see Embry in a more positive light, check out him and O'Neill in the new "Dragnet". You could even tolerate him in "Vegas Vacation" but that was a stinker for another reason. To close I will say that I would like to see O'Neill in the type of role he had on "The Spanish Prisoner". He only had a small part but he made a big impression. His performance here is good but he is undermined by the weakness of the story.