In this comedy from writer-director
John Boorman, wealthy real estate mogul Stewart McBain (
Dabney Coleman) owns a demolition firm which specializes in blowing up old buildings to make way for upscale new ones. When neighbors protest his plans to raze a dilapidated old building to make way for a new Brooklyn subdivision, television crews film the confrontation, and McBain comes off like a fool. His three spoiled children ridicule him. Tired of their carping, McBain gives them each $750 and drops them off at the old building, known as the Dutch House. Daphne (
Uma Thurman), Chloe (
Suzy Amis) and Jimmy (
David Hewlett) are at first completely lost, because they have no idea how to live in the real world. As McBain and his wife Jean (
Joanna Cassidy) monitor their children's progress, the three youngsters learn to get along with the neighborhood people and eventually set up a commune of sorts, into which they invite their friends and various homeless people. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide