Review: What We Did On Our Holiday

You want to have kids? Think again!
You don't ever want kids? Think again!

3 stars


Mini Review: 

You'll empathise with the frazzled and exhausted parents as you watch not one, not two, but three kids drive them crazy. You'll be aghast at the brats, you'll facepalm and you'll fall in love with them and you'll chuckle through this 93 minute tale of what this family did on their holiday!

Main Review:

Even before the kids predictably say, 'Are we there yet?' you have wanted to hug the mom who has tripped on toys and suitcases and things. You would want to hug the dad who is trying to get the kids into the car with assorted things: toys and books and bricks called Norman and locate the house keys and you suddenly realise that you would not want to be in the same car as these kids when trying to get out of Marol Naka on a weekday evening...

Your pity the parents - who are going through a rough patch in their marriage, and are dealing with 'a poxy effing c-word effing solicitor b-word' -  and you squash the urge to have kids. Then the kids do what kids do: speak the truth. Truths that make the grown-ups squirm and you want to laugh out loud in the theater because you were that kid once...

And you want to have as many kids as you possibly can and really quickly - like sea monkeys - so you can have a real laugh in your life.  

The kids must have been a handful during the making of the film because the writer director allows a very American 'granddad' said ever so often, when the grownups keep mentioning 'grandpa'. The kids and the grandpa have such a wonderful connect that you fight tears brimming in your eyes because it's so perfect.

And of course, such amazing views of Scotland, it will make you want to travel there and have kids. The highlands, the beaches, the sunsets, the skies... you almost understand why whiskey is made there...

This movie is so much fun, you will forgive the predictable end. I know I will watch it again when it appears on TV. But you should watch the movie. Especially if your marriage is anything like Abi and Doug's. And you wish you had or have kids like them...


P.S.: The most annoying thing about the movie was that the curse words were bleeped out by our brainless censors, and it is done so ham handedly, it feels like the characters blank out ever so often. It's like saying 'sala' is a gaali in Hindi, so you cannot even use it to refer to your wife's brother!