The Daytrippers

Monday, December 16, 2019

With its droll humor and bittersweet emotional heft, the feature debut of writer-director Greg Mottola announced the arrival of an unassumingly sharp-witted new talent on the 1990s indie film scene. When she discovers a love letter written to her husband (Stanley Tucci) by an unknown paramour, the distraught Eliza (Hope Davis) turns to her tight-knit Long Island family for advice. Soon the entire clan—strong-willed mom (Anne Meara), taciturn dad (Pat McNamara), and jaded sister (Parker Posey) with pretentious boyfriend (Liev Schreiber) in tow—has squeezed into a station wagon and headed into Manhattan to find out the truth, kicking off a one-crazy-day odyssey full of unexpected detours and life-changing revelations. Performed with deadpan virtuosity by a top-flight ensemble cast, THE DAYTRIPPERS is a wry and piercing look at family bonds stretched to the breaking point.


The new 4K transfer, overseen by writer-director Greg Mottola and The Critierion Collection’s Lee Kline, was made from the original 16mm camera negative, with the soundtrack remastered from the original 35mm magnetic tracks.


  • Country USA/Canada
  • Year 1996
  • Running Time 87 minutes
  • Distributor Janus
  • Director Greg Mottola
  • Writer Greg Mottola
  • Editor Anne McCabe
  • Cinematographer John Inwood
  • Cast Parker Posey, Hope Davis, Liev Schreiber, Stanley Tucci, Pat McNamara, Anne Meara, Campbell Scott

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