Before breaking out with Superbad (2007) and Adventureland (2009), Greg Mottola wrote and directed the little indie comedy The Daytrippers (1997). The Daytrippers is a quintessential independent film of the nineties with its New York City locales, witty dialogue, ensemble cast, and economically minded plot. Mottola even reunites indie film royalty Park Posey with her Party Girl (1995) co-star Liev Schreiber.
The Daytrippers follows Eliza (Hope Davis) as she spends her Black Friday in search of her husband (Stanley TuccI) whom she suspects is having an affair. Accompanying Eliza are her overbearing mother (Anne Meara), her stoic old man (Pat McNamara), her younger sister (Parker Posey) and her sister’s elitist snob of a boyfriend (Liev Schreiber). While the day begins with the family united in support of Eliza, the cracks in the relationships begin to show as a series of encounters with eccentric New Yorkers force some unwanted truths to come out.
Mottola does a great job just letting the actors create and inhabit their quirky characters; imbuing a familiar formula with a fresh and authentic agency. But Mottola’s real coup as a filmmaker is in the compassion he shows every character almost indiscriminately. This is particularly true in the case of Louis’ (Stanley Tucci) outing at a crowded party. There’s the payoff of infidelity and then the second tragedy of Louis’ closeted lifestyle. Eliza’s confrontation with Louis is heartbreaking as he stumbles to account for himself only to find that he still needs Eliza to help him in his quest for self-definition.
Wisely, Mottola does not shy away from the homophobia of Eliza’s mother, opting to present her as a flawed and very human character as opposed to being fundamentally good or bad. Eliza, motivated by her love for Louis does not dismiss him for his homosexuality but for his selfishness in the form of concealment and then for his plea for help. The Daytrippers ends immediately after with Eliza and her sister walking arm in arm in an ambiguous kind of emotional solidarity.
The Daytrippers isn’t all drama. Almost anytime that Schreiber or Meara are on screen the laughs just keep coming. Whether it be Meara’s painfully real “momisms” that constantly heckle everyone or Schreiber’s description of his novel about a “Pointer who can’t point”; The Daytrippers is a bizarrely hilarious take on the everyday idiosyncrasies of family life. Mottola’s humor isn’t as dry as Whit Stillman’s or as formally grounded in his images as Hal Hartley’s, but it is wholly authentic and feels almost lived-in.
There aren’t many Black Friday films to choose from, but even if that weren’t true The Daytrippers would likely still be the best. When the Criterion Collection re-released The Daytrippers in 2019 they rescued an overlooked classic from obscurity. Since then the film has gradually been becoming a kind of seasonal cult favorite. The Daytrippers is a must see.
