While there are some amusing moments in this comedy that tests the boundaries of political correctness, for the most part it's just plain unfunny. When it scores laughs, those laughs are loud, but at times, its efforts to ridicule certain elements of society fall flat, not out of offensiveness, but simply because the way they are presented just isn't funny. Certainly seeing Paul Reiser trying to fit in with black pal Robert Townsend's family by acting stereotypically black gets laughs, but it's because the parents don't say a word, giving the indication that either they are far too upper middle-class to understand or simply think that Reiser's a fool, but most likely both.
Every cliche possible is there for the laughing or the eye rolling. Ridiculously dumb mobsters, idiotic southern rural types (straight out of "Deliverance"), horny divorced women, foul mouthed old people and pompous upperclass white people, instantly putting their houses up for sale when a black family moves in. It's hit or miss, and as the film goes on mostly the later. Reiser is a comic of select appeal, and his band of college buddies going up against the mob to start a moving company is a mixed bag. Townsend is the only one to show any real potential. Richard Dean Anderson isn't served well as the clichéd upperclass snob Reiser goes up against. This had potential, but sadly falls short of succeeding in getting laughs while taking on risky topics that could have been fun seeing skewered.
Every cliche possible is there for the laughing or the eye rolling. Ridiculously dumb mobsters, idiotic southern rural types (straight out of "Deliverance"), horny divorced women, foul mouthed old people and pompous upperclass white people, instantly putting their houses up for sale when a black family moves in. It's hit or miss, and as the film goes on mostly the later. Reiser is a comic of select appeal, and his band of college buddies going up against the mob to start a moving company is a mixed bag. Townsend is the only one to show any real potential. Richard Dean Anderson isn't served well as the clichéd upperclass snob Reiser goes up against. This had potential, but sadly falls short of succeeding in getting laughs while taking on risky topics that could have been fun seeing skewered.