Written by: Ron Burch & David Kidd
Starring: Dennis Quaid, Rene Russo, Rip Torn, Linda Hunt, Jerry O’Connell, David Koechner
Rating: [2.5/5]
Trying to date when having children from a previous marriage, how this new partner will mesh with the kids, remains integral to long-term success. It gets even further complicated if this new partner also has their own kids, which means a successful future hinges not only on the adults, but also the children getting along. Now take all of that and try to fathom a total of 16 children involved, which brings us to Yours, Mine & Ours delivering in some pedestrian family comedy but carries a heartwarming central message.
Attending their 30-year high school reunion, former high school sweethearts Frank (Dennis Quaid) and Helen (Rene Russo) reconnect and rekindle their connection, with both being single once again. Both initially scared to share the total of kids they have, with Helen having ten and Frank having eight, the pair decide they can make it work and buy a large house to accommodate the large family.
There are blended families and then there’s what transpires in Yours, Mine & Ours where we merge a total of 18 kids into one household, which feels like nothing other than a gargantuan task. A task so improbable it raises major questions about the practicality of these adults having the financial means to support all of these kids. Frank has a high-ranking position within the military and it appears Helen has a fairly successful design business but I would never think that would produce enough to raise the sheer number of children. Compound that with giving them the level of attention necessary for them to build the necessary attachment and it borders on producing a migraine. However, the practicality does not necessarily matter but rather narrows in on the film’s central message about blending these families and the inherent beauty that comes with it.
As seen through their parenting styles, Helen and Frank carry many differences. Frank carries himself much more like an authoritarian, which aligns with his military background, while Helen leans more to the permissive as she imbues this laissez-faire attitude towards life and passes that along to her children. This inevitably causes problems in the way they decide to discipline their kids, especially when the kids decide to team up in order to break up the happy couple. It certainly puts their resolve to the test, and the connection binding them together does the same with the hopes of the film.
When we get to the meat of what transpires in the film with these kids beefing with each other, we receive the typical style of humor one would expect from a family comedy movie. The kids continually prank each other as they battle along the lines of their parents and their refusal to get along, not for theirs or their parents’ sake. Some pranks are much crueler than others but when they decide to break up the parents, it falls into the cruel category where it begins to lose me, especially when the older kids lead the charge in creating this divide. As seen in the beefing stage, the young kids have no real issues with each other and it becomes downright silly to think that the older ones, nearing 18-years-old would take so long to realize that perhaps breaking up this family and causing harm not only to the parents they love but also their younger siblings should make them pause and think about their actions. Perhaps I’m being too harsh on it but a dynamic where the younger underdeveloped kids would take the charge in trying to cause this divide rather than the older ones would make more sense but we need to give screen time to the older cast, which includes more established young actors like Drake Bell, Sean Faris, and Danielle Panabaker.
Utilizing plenty of bottom-of-the-barrel humor and a fairly lacking story, Yours, Mine & Ours still has plenty to appreciate. On a baseline entertainment level it will provide some laughs but its central message about the possibility of these two large families together sits towards the top. At the center we have charming performances by Dennis Quaid and Rene Russo as the central couple and for all of the lackluster child acting, they do plenty of the heavy lifting in making us buy the affection Frank and Helen have for each other. Will certainly get the job done for those looking for a mild family movie but certainly has its issues.
Films with Josh 
