{"id":19060,"date":"2022-04-17T19:18:01","date_gmt":"2022-04-17T23:18:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.itwaslikemagic.com\/?p=19060"},"modified":"2026-04-19T14:55:46","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T18:55:46","slug":"home-fries-1998","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theromcomcatalog.com\/staging\/home-fries-1998\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Home Fries&#8217; (1998) Review"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A very pregnant Sally would like her married boyfriend to do the right thing and tell his wife about them, but he doesn&#8217;t seem too eager. One evening, he&#8217;s scared to death &#8211; literally- by his stepsons, Dorian and Angus, in a National Guard helicopter. When they realize Sally and her co-workers may have overheard the murder on their work headsets, Dorian takes a job at the burger joint to find out what Sally knows, but soon falls for her himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I worked at a movie theater when this film was released, but I never got around to watching it, which is odd because I really adore <strong>Drew Barrymore<\/strong>. But it&#8217;s currently available to stream on HBO Max, so I thought&#8230;why not? And then, after the movie ended, I thought&#8230; why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Okay, so it&#8217;s not a terrible movie, but it was written by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm0319213\/\">Vince Gilligan<\/a> (<em>The X-Files, Breaking Bad<\/em>), so I expected more than what it was. Clearly, it&#8217;s meant to be a dark comedy, but it never fully commits to the darkness. There is also a distinct lack of character development, so it&#8217;s difficult to care about what happens to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I will say that the cast is pretty darn good and is the only reason I didn&#8217;t hate it. Barrymore is earnest and affable<span style=\"box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;\">, as the pregnant Sally and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/theromcomcatalog.com\/staging\/tag\/luke-wilson\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Luke Wilson<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0are<\/span> really likable, and<span style=\"box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;\"> Dorian is\u00a0<\/span>the only member of his family with a conscience. <strong>Jake Busey<\/strong> plays Dorian&#8217;s brother, Angus&#8230; a young man with violent mommy issues, and that mommy happens to be <strong>Catherine O&#8217;Hara<\/strong>, who, quite simply, is magnificent in everything she does. Shelley Duvall shows up as Sally&#8217;s mother, but sadly, I feel she should have had more to do than deal with her alcoholic husband.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Maybe that&#8217;s why <em>Home Fries<\/em> was so disappointing. It completely wastes its talent. Considering the subject matter, it&#8217;s tonally confused and not as funny as it should be. The romance between Sally and Dorian never entirely takes off either, which is a shame because Barrymore and Wilson have lovely chemistry on-screen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After the movie ended, I was just left thinking about the point. What was it? What kind of movie was <em>Home Fries<\/em> supposed to be? Dark comedies can be fantastic. Dark romantic comedies? Yes, please&#8230; give me more of them! But sadly, <em>Home Fries<\/em> just missed the mark completely. I&#8217;m giving it 1.5 stars for the cast alone because they were all pretty good with what little they had to work with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><br><strong>Watched:<\/strong> 04\/14\/2022<br><strong>Notable Song<\/strong>: Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing by Chris Isaak<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div><div id=\"pb-star-rating-4fc468edcd3f45859f07f8367db6d55b\" class=\"wp-block-ud-blocks-star-rating\" style=\"--udpb-sr-align:center;--udpb-sr-icon-color:#ffb900;--udpb-sr-icon-size:18px;--udpb-sr-icon-sizeTablet:17px;--udpb-sr-icon-sizeMobile:16px;--udpb-sr-title-color:#000;--udpb-sr-title-size:18px;--udpb-sr-title-size-tablet:17px;--udpb-sr-title-size-mobile:16px\"><div class=\"pb-star-rating-wrapper\"><div class=\"pb-star-rating--title\"><strong>Rating:<\/strong><\/div><div class=\"pb-star-rating--icon\"><svg aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\" data-prefix=\"fas\" data-icon=\"star\" class=\"svg-inline--fa fa-star fa-w-18 \" role=\"img\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 576 512\"><path fill=\"currentColor\" d=\"M259.3 17.8L194 150.2 47.9 171.5c-26.2 3.8-36.7 36.1-17.7 54.6l105.7 103-25 145.5c-4.5 26.3 23.2 46 46.4 33.7L288 439.6l130.7 68.7c23.2 12.2 50.9-7.4 46.4-33.7l-25-145.5 105.7-103c19-18.5 8.5-50.8-17.7-54.6L382 150.2 316.7 17.8c-11.7-23.6-45.6-23.9-57.4 0z\"><\/path><\/svg><svg aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\" data-prefix=\"fas\" data-icon=\"star-half-alt\" class=\"svg-inline--fa fa-star-half-alt fa-w-17 \" role=\"img\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 536 512\"><path fill=\"currentColor\" d=\"M508.55 171.51L362.18 150.2 296.77 17.81C290.89 5.98 279.42 0 267.95 0c-11.4 0-22.79 5.9-28.69 17.81l-65.43 132.38-146.38 21.29c-26.25 3.8-36.77 36.09-17.74 54.59l105.89 103-25.06 145.48C86.98 495.33 103.57 512 122.15 512c4.93 0 10-1.17 14.87-3.75l130.95-68.68 130.94 68.7c4.86 2.55 9.92 3.71 14.83 3.71 18.6 0 35.22-16.61 31.66-37.4l-25.03-145.49 105.91-102.98c19.04-18.5 8.52-50.8-17.73-54.6zm-121.74 123.2l-18.12 17.62 4.28 24.88 19.52 113.45-102.13-53.59-22.38-11.74.03-317.19 51.03 103.29 11.18 22.63 25.01 3.64 114.23 16.63-82.65 80.38z\"><\/path><\/svg><svg aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\" data-prefix=\"far\" data-icon=\"star\" class=\"svg-inline--fa fa-star fa-w-18 \" role=\"img\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 576 512\"><path fill=\"currentColor\" d=\"M528.1 171.5L382 150.2 316.7 17.8c-11.7-23.6-45.6-23.9-57.4 0L194 150.2 47.9 171.5c-26.2 3.8-36.7 36.1-17.7 54.6l105.7 103-25 145.5c-4.5 26.3 23.2 46 46.4 33.7L288 439.6l130.7 68.7c23.2 12.2 50.9-7.4 46.4-33.7l-25-145.5 105.7-103c19-18.5 8.5-50.8-17.7-54.6zM388.6 312.3l23.7 138.4L288 385.4l-124.3 65.3 23.7-138.4-100.6-98 139-20.2 62.2-126 62.2 126 139 20.2-100.6 98z\"><\/path><\/svg><svg aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\" data-prefix=\"far\" data-icon=\"star\" class=\"svg-inline--fa fa-star fa-w-18 \" role=\"img\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 576 512\"><path fill=\"currentColor\" d=\"M528.1 171.5L382 150.2 316.7 17.8c-11.7-23.6-45.6-23.9-57.4 0L194 150.2 47.9 171.5c-26.2 3.8-36.7 36.1-17.7 54.6l105.7 103-25 145.5c-4.5 26.3 23.2 46 46.4 33.7L288 439.6l130.7 68.7c23.2 12.2 50.9-7.4 46.4-33.7l-25-145.5 105.7-103c19-18.5 8.5-50.8-17.7-54.6zM388.6 312.3l23.7 138.4L288 385.4l-124.3 65.3 23.7-138.4-100.6-98 139-20.2 62.2-126 62.2 126 139 20.2-100.6 98z\"><\/path><\/svg><svg aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\" data-prefix=\"far\" data-icon=\"star\" class=\"svg-inline--fa fa-star fa-w-18 \" role=\"img\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 576 512\"><path fill=\"currentColor\" d=\"M528.1 171.5L382 150.2 316.7 17.8c-11.7-23.6-45.6-23.9-57.4 0L194 150.2 47.9 171.5c-26.2 3.8-36.7 36.1-17.7 54.6l105.7 103-25 145.5c-4.5 26.3 23.2 46 46.4 33.7L288 439.6l130.7 68.7c23.2 12.2 50.9-7.4 46.4-33.7l-25-145.5 105.7-103c19-18.5 8.5-50.8-17.7-54.6zM388.6 312.3l23.7 138.4L288 385.4l-124.3 65.3 23.7-138.4-100.6-98 139-20.2 62.2-126 62.2 126 139 20.2-100.6 98z\"><\/path><\/svg><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Home Fries: Pregnant Sally unknowingly falls for the stepson of the deceased father of her baby and has to deal with his homicidal family.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":59593,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[468,1],"tags":[755,1721,2220,2221,2222,773,2223,2224,836,4096,2151],"class_list":["post-19060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reviews-h","category-reviews","tag-755","tag-catherine-ohara","tag-chris-ellis","tag-daryl-mitchell","tag-dean-parisot","tag-drew-barrymore","tag-home-fries","tag-jake-busey","tag-luke-wilson","tag-1-5-stars","tag-shelley-duvall"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theromcomcatalog.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theromcomcatalog.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theromcomcatalog.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theromcomcatalog.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theromcomcatalog.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19060"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/theromcomcatalog.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19060\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81776,"href":"https:\/\/theromcomcatalog.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19060\/revisions\/81776"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theromcomcatalog.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theromcomcatalog.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theromcomcatalog.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theromcomcatalog.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}