OK, sitcom reunions, never a good thing. we all know this from little turds like the facts of life reunion and others to hit the reunion graveyard. the growing pains reunion of a few years ago is possibly one of very few reunions to not land face flat, it was as if, we hadn't missed a thing.
in this one, the parents are moving, and the movie opens up with them packing up the odds and ends to prepare for the big move. during this first scene and the ten minutes or so to follow, we are exposed to more cheese and clichés than we can stand to see, and we become worried about whether or not these actors knew what kind of humiliation might become of this TV movie.
the movie doesn't go very far, the whole thing takes place in one day, a bold move used usually in thrillers or half hour shows, however, more events than could ever occur in one day (since this is fiction) do occur.
the script? it seems well written, but under pressure. it holds a lot of elements used in your average romance-family feature. there are never times where you are tempted to chuckle along with the parts you know you're supposed to laugh at, but the story and the events are what really involve the audience. my personal favorite parts, the parts that made me burst into laughter, usually involved the always well-done brother/sister chemistry between Mike (Cameron) and Carol (Gold). another thing i enjoyed personally, that i really admire the actor's ability to make work was the mentioning the story from the audiences point-of-view. Jason Seaver makes a reference to Mike about "...166 episodes..."
on a scale of one to ten, a sure-fire 8.5/B+
this movie has a lot to offer, and is a great one to watch when the family gets together.
