A Change Of Flight Plans
Despite having a surprisingly solid cast and a decent plot, Unaccompanied Minors (2006) failed to take off with film goers. I personally enjoyed the film and happen to be one of the few people that actually saw it in the theater. My daughter tagged along with me and she enjoyed it as well.
The film tells the story of five unaccompanied minors who are sent to the UM room at an airport when all of the flights are cancelled on Christmas Eve. Five of the six sneak out of the room and go on individual adventures hoping to find something to entertain them until the flights are allowed to take off again. They end up getting captured by airport security, but when they return to the UM room, the younger sister of one of the kids and all of the other minors have been sent to a local hotel until flights resume the next morning. Not wanting his little sister to wake up without a present from Santa Claus, one of the minors, Spencer (Dyllan Christopher), thinks up a plan to escape the room again and bring his sister, Katherine (Dominique Saldana), a present. One of the airport’s relations managers, Oliver Porter (Lewis Black), sets out to stop the kids at all costs. One of his workers, Zach (Wilmer Valderrama), ends up trying to help the minors. Pratfalls and laughs ensue.
The film features two subplots. Katherine and Spencer’s father (Rob Corddry) sets out to pick up his kids at the airport in his biodiesel fueled car but experiences a ton of mishaps along the way. His misadventure provides a few nice laughs. The other subplot involves one of the minors, Timothy “Beef” Wellington (Brett Kelly). Beef is a tenderhearted child with an imposing figure. His family believes that he is too old to play with “dolls” and hate the fact that he keeps an Aquaman action figure in his pocket and talks to it as if it is his friend. He makes plans to find a Christmas tree for Katherine.
The plot of this film is actually based on a true story by Susan Burton on the public radio show This American Life. I don’t know how close to the actual story that this film plays, but I would assume that the writers, Mya Stark and Jacob Meszaros, took a lot of liberties with the chaos that the kids cause in the film. The story was pretty solid, but critics shredded the film to pieces.
That being said, the strength of this film lies within the performances of its cast, both main and supporting. Dyllan Christopher is likable as Spencer and he has great chemistry with Dominique Saldana as his sister. He also has some wonderful chemistry with Gia Mantegna, daughter of Joe Mantegna, who portrays Grace Conrad, a snobby rich girl that isn’t exactly as snobby as the other kids originally perceive her. Tyler James Williams portrays Charlie Goldfinch, the nerd of the bunch that provides a lot of the humor in the film. You might recognize him from Everybody Hates Chris or The Walking Dead. Quinn Shephard portrays Donna Malone, the scrappy tough kid of the bunch. She and Williams play off of one another very well in the film. Brett Kelly portrays a character that somewhat dim but extremely thoughtful of others. It’s not too much of a stretch from the character of Thurman Merman that he played in another Christmas film, Bad Santa.
Lewis Black and Wilmer Valderrama are excellent playing against one another. Black is relentless in his attempt to capture all of the kids and Valderrama takes a softer approach. Along with this pair of stars, the film also has a surprisingly large amount of cameos by actors who, at the time, were either about to make big breaks in film and television, or had established careers already. Just a few of the cameos and supporting cast included in this film that have had or currently have great careers are Mindy Kaling, David Koechner, Paget Brewster, Teri Garr, Mario Lopez, Kristen Wiig, and Rob Riggle. Also be on the lookout for comedy legends Bruce McCulloch, Kevin McDonald, and Mark McKinney (all from The Kids In The Hall) portraying Guards In The Hall #1, #2, and #3.
This film didn’t fare very well in cinemas. It failed to turn a profit for Warner Bros. Despite its amazing cast, a pretty good story, and direction by Paul Feig (Freaks and Geeks, The Office, Mad Men) in one of his earliest films, the movie just couldn’t find its audience. If you haven’t watched it, perhaps take a look at over the holidays. It’s not a great film, but it is worth a look, especially if you have kids.
Thanks for reading. I’ll have another review real soon!
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