The Guilt Trip

There are few rituals in the Jewish faith more sacred than going to the movies on Christmas, and no movie is gunning for that market more transparently than The Guilt Trip. The film stars Seth Rogen as an inventor who invites his overbearing Jewish mother (played by Barbra Streisand, duh) on an eight-day, cross-country road trip—thus fulfilling the collective, not-so-secret fantasy of every Mahjong group in America.

The film was written by Dan Fogelman (Crazy, Stupid, Love.) and directed by Anne Fletcher (The Proposal), so audiences can probably expect more of the innocuous, well-meaning gags both have provided in the past. (For example: The trailer features a scene in which Streisand somehow misinterprets a “TOPLESS” sign as one for “TAPAS.") It’s slated for a Christmas Day release, so everybody should probably phone in their Chinese orders now, because it's going to be impossible to get a table once the movie lets out.