First, kudos to Matt K. Turner who created this wonderful group of characters. The film opens with everything pristine white, neat and orderly. It is an ideal household on the surface. This world quickly falls apart as we discover the family has drifted apart. The family cast of characters:Dad (Matthew Modine) is a has-been artist. He smokes pot and sleeps a lot. He is a 60's hippie type.Mom (Kristin Chenoweth) is the family bread winner. She is a workaholic and the least likeable of the family.Emily (Olesya Rulin) is the centerpiece to this tale. She jumps rope competitively and would love some family support.Jack (Eddie Hassell) is the older son who describes himself as a "raging homosexual." He makes short features for the Internet and wants to be called "Thor."Lucy (Joey King) is my favorite. She loves movies and fancies herself an actress. When we first meet her she has immersed herself into "Iris" the child prostitute from "Taxi."Mickey (Robbie Tucker) is the introverted young son who memorizes every spoken word. No one ever questions his memory.Grandma Gale or GG (Shirley Jones) is The father's mother and doesn't get along with his wife. She is somewhat New Age in this film.When everyone in the family missed Emily's semi-final jump rope competition she is upset and devises an over the top plan to force her parents to act like parents. I was laughing out loud over the antics and at Lucy.Joey King was fantastic as she assumed multiple film roles, none of which any parent would allow a nine year old to watch. At the end, the film then shifts to heart warming mode as do most indie comedies.Parental Guide: 1 f-bomb, no sex or nudity. Sex talk.

This movie features some strong actors as entertaining over the top characters in a funny yet ultimately touching story line of a high school age daughter who sees that her family has fallen apart, and is willing to do anything to bring it back together. This film has that successful foreign comedy feel about it, but with the benefit of being in English. If you can enjoy some silly in your comedies, you should like this.Olesya Rulin, previously seen in the Disney High School Musical series of films, does an excellent job portraying an obsessive yet loving over-achiever who decides to take action to save her family.

"Family Weekend" is a dark comedy about a 16-year-old girl, Emily (Olesya Rulin), who takes her family into her own hands to turn them into a normal family. But it's not going to be easy; Samantha Smith- Dungy (Kristen Chenoweth) is a workaholic mom, Duncan Dungy (Matthew Modine) is a hippie artist dad, and her brother and sister are maladjusted kids who think they are perfectly well-adjusted.Emily takes after her mother and plots and schedules the success of her teenage life. One of which is her plan to win a jump rope competition, but her family isn't there to watch her compete because they can't think of anything beyond themselves. At the beginning, the film works because we care for Emily, we feel bad for her, and it's time to whip these idiots into shape.She talks her brother and sister into taking her side, and they take their parents hostage and hold them captive inside their own house until they learn to think, talk and act like real parents. It sounds juvenile but it doesn't seem so bad in execution because Emily has a plan for how to reach maturity.Surprising, or rather unsurprisingly, things don't go according to plan and Emily has made drastic changes to a drastic undertaking. I definitely could have used with a few less detours in Emily's strategy as it hurts her credentials as a sympathetic leading character, which is already on shaky ground, what with the whole kidnapping her parents idea and all.Things then get dramatic which follows Emily losing her sympathy, but the comedy gets back on track with a happy medium between her current family and her ideal family and a resolution which is un-Hollywood but still uplifting. There's also a joke (which I will leave unspoiled as I think it's one of the better ones I have seen) that gives a resolution to her brother's dissatisfied life that is funny, original and meaningful all in one.All in all, "Family Weekend" works well as a dark comedy indie even with a few dramatic and comedic missteps because the beginning and ending are clever enough to keep it cute and entertaining.

"If a family doesn't stick together, sometimes you have to use a little tape."Family Weekend is a small indie comedy that didn't receive much attention after its limited release and I can understand why. This isn't a good film and I shouldn't have liked it as much as I did, but to be honest I did laugh during several scenes and it had one of those feel good endings that leave you with a smile on your face. The real reason why I'm giving this film a passing grade is because I really enjoyed the lead performance from Olesya Rulin and the supporting role from the young Joey King who was hilarious. This is the fourth film I've seen her in this year (the others being The Conjuring, Oz: The Great and Powerful, and White House Down) and this was her best role by far. Family Weekend is worth watching even if it's for her performance alone because she was just hysterical. I was going to describe this as a family film, but after seeing that it got an R rating I can understand why because it does take some dark turns. At first I thought this was going to be some sort of remake of House Arrest, and despite borrowing a similar premise, screenwriter Matt Turner kind of gives it its own spin. I do have to say however that some of the characters in this film are extremely unlikable (especially the mother played Kristin Chenoweth) and almost took me out of the film. Director Benjamin Epps could have used a stronger script, but overall his film had its entertaining moments despite being unbalanced and a bit overlong. Family Weekend is a formulaic comedy that does take some unpredictable and dark turns at times, and I actually ended up enjoying this. Emily (Olesya Rulin) is an uptight 16 year old girl who is passionate about jump-roping and after winning a competition at regionals she is disappointed that no one from her family shows up. When she gets home we meet them while she confronts each one for not going to cheer her. First there is her younger sister, Lucinda (Joey King), who is obsessed with acting and is currently playing the Jodie Foster role from Taxi Driver. Then there is her artistic father, Duncan (Matthew Modine), who is working on a painting and is so self absorbed by it that he had no idea that she was competing. Her brother, Jackson (Eddie Hassell) is also trying to become an artist like his father trying to find his way. Then there is her younger brother Mickey (Robbie Tucker) who is obsessed with animals and is always citing trivial things about them. Finally we are introduced to Emily's mother, Samantha (Kristin Chenoweth), who is an uptight businesswoman. Everyone seems so disconnected from each other and self absorbed, so Emily decides that an intervention needs to take place. She drugs her parents and ties them up in their home like hostages because she feels it's the only way she can get through to them. This is where the insanity ensues as she tries to fix her dysfunctional family.Dealing with dysfunctional families has sort of become a trend in Hollywood and it isn't unfamiliar territory. We've seen some of these characters before in other films and the film does fall into generic clichés at times. Family Weekend still remains fresh thanks to the performances from the young cast, and it also happens to have some heart. The scenery in this film is gorgeous and the house where most of the story takes place also looks really good, so this is a pretty nice film to look at. It does feel unbalanced at times and the characters are hard to like, but overall we get through some of these unbalanced moments thanks to some comedic relief coming mostly from Joey King. Some of the familiar roles she plays in this film from highly acclaimed movies were the highlight for me. Rulin was also great in this film and I will be looking forward to what she does next. She truly was a freak queen here. The film does try to explore some deep issues during some dramatic turns although only scratching the surface and then continuing to return to the classic comedic elements. I had a good time although I admit I'm on the minority here and I fully understand why.