Just when you think you've seen every genre of film comes a delightful new one: the comedic "road mystery."
By cleverly combining two of the most overused film devices — road trips and mysteries — and by infusing a big dose of Woody Allen-like humor, first-time writer/director Greg Mottola has made a pretty impressive debut with "The Daytippers." (He won the grand jury prize at the 1996 Slamdance Film Festival for the film.)
Of course, not everything in the breezy comedy works — its ending is much too abrupt, for instance — and there are some brief dry stretches. But for the most part, it is successful in its goal of making the ordinary seem out of the ordinary, like the tantalizing mystery that propels the story. And despite the fact that Mottola often pokes fun at the nuclear family, the humor is all in good fun.
The mystery is whether Louis D'Amico (Stanley Tucci), an otherwise happily married publishing agent, is having an affair. When Eliza (Hope Davis), his normally unsuspicious wife, finds a love note from someone named Sandy, it sends her off on a hunt to find the letter's author as well as to confront her husband.
Joining her on the quest is her family — her take-charge mother, Rita (Anne Meara); her put-upon father, Jim (Pat McNamara); Jo (Parker Posey), her rebellious younger sister; and Carl (Liev Schreiber), Jo's pretentious boyfriend and a would-be author. Traveling in the family station wagon from Long Island to midtown Manhattan, these bickering wannabe sleuths take one wrong turn after another.
They're unable to find Louis at his office, though they do find what seem to be incriminating photos of him with another woman. Regrouping at a nearby restaurant, they see Louis getting into a cab with the woman in the photo. Due to heavy traffic (this is New York, after all) they lose track of the cab.
Other seeming dead ends include the apartment of a young college student (on whom Rita and Carl intrude), a book party for Louis' publishing company (where Jo flirts with Eddie, a published author who comes off as being more confident than Carl) and Sandy's apartment, where Eliza finally catches up with Louis.
As mentioned, the conclusion is a little sudden, although there's a pretty sneaky surprise that makes it all worth it.
Part of Mottola's skill as a screenwriter is making these somewhat contrived situations seem realistic, especially the scene in the student's apartment, where Rita proceeds to clean the place up and then fix a meal! And as a director, Mottola displays a nicely subdued style, letting the action unfold at a natural pace rather than forcing things.
Also helping is a great cast. Especially effective are Meara as the bossy Everymother, Posey and Davis, who is sweetly naive. Also, Schreiber is a hoot playing a stuffy artist type, while Tucci is appropriately enigmatic.
"The Daytrippers" is not rated would probably receive an R for some scattered profanities and a couple of vulgar references and gags.