Three rebellious bickersome brothers reunite to drive their father's title car from their Detroit homes to Florida. The auto is to be a gift to celebrate their mother's birthday party. Along the way, their adventures are punctuated by pop tunes from 1963 that include "Louie, Louie," a song that inspires a hilarious debate as the three attempt to fathom the song's meaning. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Review by All Movie Guide
All Movie Guide
lost interest.
This comedy from future studio mogul
Joe Roth and screenwriter
Mike Binder is formulaic and predictable, with a trio of central characters that are more types than flesh-and-blood humans. Nevertheless, Coupe de Ville is a warm, gentle, and good-natured film that wraps up in a surprisingly winning, emotionally satisfying fashion. Of the three young stars,
Daniel Stern makes the strongest impression as the rigid, autocratic Marvin, a departure from the actor's usual role of the naïve rookie or blissfully zonked-out airhead. His is an especially notable performance because, like
Arye Gross and
Patrick Dempsey -- the actors portraying his brothers -- Stern is saddled with a role that's over the top and annoyingly exaggerated at times. It's apt that he's the standout here, as Coupe de Ville, in its nostalgia for a bygone era, bears comparison to the Baltimore films of director
Barry Levinson, the first of which,
Diner (1982), also starred Stern. It's a shame that Roth and Binder couldn't create a film as observant and emotionally trenchant as those of Levinson; a unique variation of the standard road picture might have been the welcome result. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide