Starring Anne Meara, Hope Davis, Parker Posey and Liev Schreiber Directed by Greg Mottola Rated Unrated, with profanity and sex Running time 90 minutes Jack gives this film a rating of 7 out of 10

(May 9, 1997) -- In The Daytrippers, a messed-up Long Island family unravels over the course of a day, cramped together in a station wagon. Ironically, they dysfunction precisely as they're working to keep the family together.

The problems start on the day after Thanksgiving, when the older married daughter, Eliza (Hope Davis), finds a love letter that somebody else seems to have written to her husband, Louis (Stanley Tucci).

When she shows it to her mother (a marvelously funny Anne Meara), Mom immediately involves the rest of the family in speculation about what it means. They all decide to pile in the junky old family station wagon for a trip into Manhattan to confront Louis at his office.

Joining Mom and Eliza in the car are her father (Pat McNamara), their younger daughter Jo (Parker Posey), and Jo's boyfriend, an oft-pretentious young writer named Carl (Liev Schreiber). When the Malones aren't debating the odds on whether Louis is having an affair, Carl is boring them all silly by recounting the plot of his latest unpublished novel.

Once the station wagon hits the concrete canyons of Manhattan, the daytrippers find themselves constantly one step behind Louis, as they follow him around the city. They miss him at work. They miss his supposed meeting at a friend's apartment, they miss him at a business-oriented party.

But as tensions rise, other family problems erupt. Jo and Carl start to have doubts about their relationship, and even Mom and Dad start expressing the frustrations of a seldom-perfect marriage.

Most of the foibles and rifts are treated with fresh-faced humor by first-time writer-director Greg Mottola, and his talented cast creates real characters, anchoring the laughs in reality.

The film's surprise ending, though, will seem jarring to those who have been lured into a feel-good mood by the film's warm humor. On the other hand, I liked the conclusion: It's utterly imaginative, even a little daring.

I like the way it gives your expectations a punch in the nose -- just like real life.