The kids say funny things that get laughs, but depending on your views towards bratty child thieves, this comedy can be grating one moment and overly cutesy the next. Rogers is an auto racer trying to make a comeback, and when he stops to get gas, he ends up being locked in a bathroom during which time the kids go to work unseen stealing the engine and other parts from his racing car. Later, while he's eating in a greasy spoon diner, the same thing happens to his regular car and eventually he traces the thieves to a camp out in the middle of nowhere, agreeing to help them get to Shreveport which of course is not the final stop on their journey together as he reluctantly begins taking care of them along with girlfriend Erin Gray.
This is one of those good old boy comedies that became immensely popular in the late 70s thanks to "Smokey and the Bandit", and along with that and the TV series "The Dukes of Hazard", the film contains typical dumb Texas law enforcement, led by Barry Corbin. All we're missing is a Boss Hogg like Big Daddy character to be the comical villain to top things off.
Certainly films involving kids are automatically considered cute for that reason, and they do get the darndest things to say. Diane Lane is the oldest of them, the mother figure as the oldest sister, and they really aren't learning any good moral lessons by being thieves. After a while, this begins presenting the characters along the long drive through Texas as stereotypical hicks, and those who want more sophisticated comedy or at least less cartoonish situations will quickly tune out. Rogers is basically playing himself, rightfully ill-tempered at times because of his situation, and after a while, I began to get irritated as well. Rogers had to put up with his situation. Viewers have other options.
This is one of those good old boy comedies that became immensely popular in the late 70s thanks to "Smokey and the Bandit", and along with that and the TV series "The Dukes of Hazard", the film contains typical dumb Texas law enforcement, led by Barry Corbin. All we're missing is a Boss Hogg like Big Daddy character to be the comical villain to top things off.
Certainly films involving kids are automatically considered cute for that reason, and they do get the darndest things to say. Diane Lane is the oldest of them, the mother figure as the oldest sister, and they really aren't learning any good moral lessons by being thieves. After a while, this begins presenting the characters along the long drive through Texas as stereotypical hicks, and those who want more sophisticated comedy or at least less cartoonish situations will quickly tune out. Rogers is basically playing himself, rightfully ill-tempered at times because of his situation, and after a while, I began to get irritated as well. Rogers had to put up with his situation. Viewers have other options.