Review: Drunk Parents

Drunk Parents, finally seeing the light of day nearly two years after filming was completed, is easily one of the worst films ever made, and perhaps enjoyable to those who have a high threshold for relentless mediocrity and atrociousness. Both Alec Baldwin and Salma Hayek have been in their fair share of middling movies, but Drunk Parents proves itself a special breed of awfulness.

Baldwin and Hayek play Frank and Nancy, the titular parents who don't even have the decency to be drunk with anything other than love for their daughter Rachel (Michelle Veintimilla), who is away to college and has not an inkling that her parents are in dire financial straits. Unlike Dick and Jane, there's no fun to be had with Frank and Nancy's predicament as their attempts to fix a problem result in even bigger problems. The couple somehow rent out their neighbour's house on Craigslist for extra cash, except the renter (Jim Gaffigan) ends up being a registered sex offender. A mix-up ensues, Frank and Nancy are mistaken for being paedophiles, they're kidnapped and threatened, and they end up crashing at Nancy's sister's place where they have to deal with the shenanigans of Nancy's nephews.

The whole thing is painful, tiresome, interminable, and a thoroughly embarrassing vehicle for everyone involved. One feels especially sympathetic for Hayek, who appears to have been directed to deliver her lines at the highest, most grating level and to overact as much as possible. It's an absolute shame to treat an actress of her talent in such a manner, and one hopes that Hayek never allows herself to be in a film as terrible as this again.

Drunk Parents

Directed by: Fred Wolf

Written by: Fred Wolf, Peter Gaulke

Starring: Alec Baldwin, Salma Hayek, Jim Gaffigan, Joe Manganiello, Ben Platt, Treat Williams, Natalia Cigliuti, Aimee Mullins, Michelle Veintimilla