A child-hating bachelor encounters two insufferable brats in this amiable comedy from Jingle All the Way director Brian Levant. A family-friendly mix of sassy dialogue, slapstick and sight gags, it combines the manic road-trip style of Planes, Trains and Automobiles with the adult-baiting laughs of Home Alone. Cast against type, Ice Cube plays a love-struck singleton who's desperately trying to woo attractive divorcee Nia Long. But when he offers to transport her two monstrous children to see her on a business trip, everything that could go wrong invariably does. The eye-watering clashes and cartoon-style violence that ensue are enjoyable, with Cube's deadpan reactions particularly amusing. But the film founders when it becomes overly sentimental, which sits awkwardly with what's gone before. The youngsters are also too obnoxious to be engaging, and passing off their outrageous behaviour as a product of paternal neglect is hard to swallow.

The fledgling romance between Nick, a playboy bachelor, and Suzanne, a divorced mother of two, is threatened by a particularly harrowing New Years Eve. When Suzanne's work keeps her in Vancouver for the holiday, Nick offers to bring her kids to the city from Portland, Oregon. The kids, who have never liked any of the men their mom dates, are determined to turn the trip into a nightmare for Nick.