Dutch (1991) is directed by Peter Faiman and written by John Hughes. It stars Ed O’Neil, Ethan Embry, JoBeth Williams, and Christopher McDonald. The film follows a working-class guy named Dutch as he travels to pick up Doyle, his girlfriend’s son, from boarding school. Throughout their journey home during the Thanksgiving holiday, the two are forced to reconcile their newfound situation. This is all while Doyle’s snooty, rich-kid attitude and Dutch’s blue collar sensibilities are constantly at odds. While scouring the internet for Thanksgiving film recommendations, I came across Dutch. The real selling point for me came from the fact that the film is written by John Hughes. The film was released one year after Home Alone (1990) and really is similar in tone. Hughes is once again able to deliver on the solid themes of family that feature so often in his film’s from this time period. Dutch is occasionally dated in its comedic moments, but succeeds in being a touching exploration of what family truly means while likewise delivering some still timely messages relating to class and privilege.

Ed O’Neil as Dutch really delivers in his role. Although he sometimes wanders into cartoonish clown territory with some of his comedic moments, he succeeds in balancing this out with his character’s tendency to act as a sort of caring father figure. Prior to this, I had never really seen Ed O’Neil in anything other than Modern Family. Though, after seeing Dutch, that casting makes a lot of sense. His natural presence even reminds me of my own father. Ethan Embry, on the other hand, is a mixed bag as Doyle. I think Embry is able to execute everything the script asks of him, it’s just that the script doesn’t do a lot in terms of getting us to like the character. He’s portrayed throughout a majority of the film to be conniving and entitled, constantly hindering the pair’s ability to make it home. He does change by the end of the film, but by then it feels like it’s “too little, too late.” The changes in Doyle’s character would have been served better if we saw those changes gradually throughout the film. Christopher McDonald is also fun to see here, playing his standard comedic villain character similar to what he would eventually deliver as the popular character of Scooter McGavin in Happy Gilmore (1996).

The film follows the sort of standard but admittedly fun road trip movie formula. Throughout we are faced with a good amount of unexpectedly great scenes that explore class and privilege. Doyle comes from a rich family where he can make anything happen with the drop of a hat. Dutch, on the other hand, comes from a blue-collar family that has had to work for every cent. Doyle is constantly looking-down at Dutch, insulting how he chooses to present himself. Dutch has some really great monologues that immediately cause Doyle to rethink. This is supported by the fact that Dutch’s blue-collar know-how is able to get the two out of various sticky situations that Doyle’s privilege would have no bearing on. The film also does a great job of setting up the dynamics of the relationships between Doyle and his mother as well as Dutch and Doyle’s mother. We understand why Dutch is willing to take on this task initially because we understand just how much he loves Doyle’s mother. Likewise, we understand Doyle’s angst with his mother and by extension Dutch because he blames her for divorcing his dad. Most importantly though, the film hammers home some themes that perfectly relate to the Thanksgiving holiday. The film begs us to be thankful for what we have, urging us to not focus on what we want or think we deserve. Sometimes, if we lose what we have, that’s exactly what we then want. 

Overall, this is a fun road-trip film that is likewise one of the better Thanksgiving films in existence. Although it suffers from some dated comedy, a grating child performance, and a slight lacking in Thanksgiving themed visuals, it still succeeds in the most important aspects. If you’re looking for a comedy with a heart, you could do a lot worse than Dutch this Thanksgiving. B