Synopsis

It’s Christmas Eve and a huge blizzard has just shut down the Hoover airport, threatening to ruin holiday plans for all stranded travelers. Snowed in en route to their father’s house, two "Unaccompanied Minors" (UMs), Spencer and his little sister, Katherine, are ushered to the airport’s Unaccompanied Minors Room, a holding cell for dozens of stranded, parent-free kids from all over the country. Caught in the crossfire of projectile cupcakes and juice boxes and desperate to escape, Spencer makes a run for freedom along with four other UMs, who couldn’t be more different if they tried. Passenger Relations Manager Oliver Porter is not a happy man. For the first time in fifteen years he's heading off on holidays to beautiful warm, Hawaii, until like the UM's his flight joins all others in the shutdown. Now he has another problem. Kids on the run. He calls in security and the kids are recaptured. But not for long. They are soon on the run again trying to keep ahead of Oliver and his security team. Oliver wants them caught. The kids have other plans. It's a game of cat and mouse as the security team try their damdest to corral the five kids. Can they?

What The Critics Say

"Aimed at the tweenage (or slightly younger) market, Unaccompanied Minors tells the story of five teenagers flying solo on Christmas Eve as they shuttle between divorced parents. Expect lots of physical comedy as the kids hijack golf buggies, luggage belts and a canoe. Along the way they learn you don't always have to be related to feel and act like a family." Catriona Mathewson THE COURIER MAIL "The strength of this flick is in the casting of its young leads. They have a natural chemistry; when one character says at the end that they've become like a family, it's cheesy but believable. But the younger crowd will get a kick out of the film, which realises every kid's fantasy: being allowed to roam free with no one to boss you around. The kids at the preview screening enjoyed the story, which is basically "Home Alone" (1990) in an airport." Samuel Downing OUR BRISBANE "Cycles of escape, recapture and punishment ensue, though a climactic infusion of Christmas spirit helps keep results merry." VARIETY "Given the formula of a pre-teen comedy, the best thing is to cast realistically charming children and let them romp. The young actors in this film are all capable.. they're such polished professionals ... Dyllan Christopher has the jaded manner of a veteran comic. The most impressive performer a stylish little actor named Tyler James Williams even comes with his own retro walk and dance." Lesley Chow URBAN CINEFILE

"Child actors showcase stand-up comic personas in Unaccompanied Minors, a conceptual mishmash of Home Alone and The Terminal. The movie opts away from seasonal feeling to be a live action cartoon. But it rises somewhere higher profile blockbusters Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, X Men: The Last Stand, Cars, V for Vendetta, and The Da Vinci Code do not. It's fun. Stranded by a snowstorm on Christmas Eve, a group of kids flying without parents make the most out of a fictitious Chicago airport. This brings together such dependable types as the stuck up rich girl (Gina Mantegna), the jester boy (Tyler James Williams), tough girl (Donna Malone), and the kid who doesn't need an oddball trait because he's the central character (Dyllan Christopher). Action scenes like a rollercoaster through the baggage carrier system and the (now dependable in Christmas comedies) highspeed sled ride are cut together with an eye for physical humour." Mark Palermo THE COAST "Unaccompanied Minors is a winsome blend of Home Alone and The Breakfast Club. An unabashedly silly kids' movie, it has a "Kids Gone Wild" feel with everything from food fights to pratfalls. With merely a single fart joke, the movie manages to elicit almost non-stop laughter from the kids in the audience. Even the adults are able to find some funny bits in this retread of a movie. One of the best scenes is a slapstick one set deep in the bowels of the airports large conveyer belt system. The antics in it are somewhat like a similar scene in Monster's, Inc. My nephew William and my niece Liana, ages 12 and 10 respectively, both gave the movie 4 STARS. They laughed constantly and had many favorite funny parts they talked about with me afterwards." Steve Rhodes INTERNET REVIEWS

The Inside Story Don't worry if you haven't heard or seen anything on Warner Bros christmas comedy offering "Unaccompanied Minors", because neither have I. No trailers, no lead-up publicity, no media screening and to make matters worse, we screened the film before they did in the U.S.A. It's a pity. I get the impression the distributors had written this one off well before its release date, probably hoping for a quick to DVD journey where it might pull in a few bucks. Thanks to a lack of publicity it only took moderate bucks at the box-office but did manage to pull off seventh spot on the Australian Box Office Top 10. "Unaccompanied Minors" is based on Susan Burton's story "Babysitting" on Chicago Public Radio’s Peabody Award-winning program "This American Life". "Babysitting" is based on Burton's own experience as a travelling youngster. "I heard this story on the radio about two sisters who get stuck in an airport traveling from one parent to another," recalls producer Michael Aguilar. "It struck me as a great idea for a movie because there was adventure, fun and an emotional center. So I got together with writers Jacob Meszaros and Mya Stark to create a group of young fictional characters who get stuck in an airport over Christmas without their families and create a little makeshift family of their own." Together with Aguilar, fellow producer Lauren Shuler Donner looked for the right director to realize their project. Director Paul Feig was brought onboard to helm the production. "We were so glad that Paul really responded to the material," says "Thank God It's Friday" and "Mr Mom" producer Lauren Shuler Donner. "He has such a unique voice and style, and he is so good at combining physical comedy with heartwarming elements. Plus, nobody understands early teen angst like Paul." What was it then that drew Feig to the production? "I was drawn to this project for so many reasons," he says. "I am always trying to tell stories about family or about people bonding together. Here you have five kids from separate families joined together by the fact that they’re mostly kids of divorced parents and, during the holiday season, are sent around from one parent to the other. I just love the idea of strangers who are thrust together and find that they have things in common. Also, I’d been wanting to make a fun, physical, sort of old-fashioned comedy like the kind I grew up watching. I just wanted to try and capture that fun slapstick style of comedy." And on the film's concept of being stuck in an "Unaccompanied Minors" lounge? "I think it’s pretty safe to say that most people dread holiday travel,” offers director Paul Feig. “And when something goes wrong, adults can mitigate the situation by canceling their flights, booking a hotel or renting a car. But what if you’re stuck in an airport as a minor? What would you do if airport officials locked you up in one room with other kids and told you to stay there all night long?" Most of us would answer that with a resounding, "try to escape!" And that's just what five kids try to do. Meet The Cast Of course, we all know how important casting is in any film. "Casting is 90 percent of the job," asserts Feig. "Once I’m done casting, if I’ve done it right, all I have to do is make sure the camera angles are right, keep the actors on track and fine tune them if things get too big or off-kilter. But really, it’s all about the casting." Just to make sure, Feig brought in EMMY Award winning casting director Allison Jones ("Freaks and Geeks"). "We threw the net really wide for both professional actors and newcomers, looked for kids who have their own personality, who have the confidence to just be themselves," emphasizes Feig. "I agree with Paul. It’s all about casting. We auditioned hundreds of kids, and put together an amazing ensemble," says Shuler Donner. They certainly are and gel together extremely well on the screen. For the lead role of Spencer, Feig found the perfectly awkward youngster when 14­year-old Dyllan Christopher walked in for his audition. "Dyllan has such a fun quality about himself," remarks Feig. "He’s a little awkward because he’s at that stage where you want to be this, but you’re actually that. And yet he is headstrong enough to say, 'Hey, this is who I am. I’ll try to fit in with you guys, but if I have to change, then what’s the point? I’m just gonna go out and do my thing.' He reminded me of me when I was that age." "Spencer is a kid who is pressured by his mom to do everything she says and so he’s lugging around his little sister everywhere he goes, which is embarrassing for him," says Christopher. "But then, he loses his sister and makes it his goal to find her and give her a good Christmas." His little sister, Katherine, is played by Dominique Saldaña, who makes her big-screen debut in "Unaccompanied Minors". "She’s seven years old, and watching her take direction is so much fun. You wouldn’t expect her to turn and become somebody else on a dime, but she does it. She’s great," observes Aguilar. Catching Spencer’s eye from across the UM Room is Grace, a precocious heartbreaker who seemingly has it all, played by Gina Mantegna, who by the way, celebrated her sixteenth birthday during production. "Gina’s got this cool kind of teenager energy. She’s the girl that every kid fell in love with in school, and yet she’s not the typical blonde, Barbie doll-looking girl, which to me is just boring," says Feig. "My friends and I were always more interested in girls who were different and fun...and she’s just that!" "Grace is the girl who’s fourteen going on thirty. She’s a little bit mature and always flirting with the guys any chance she gets. Then there’s a twist for her character at the end of the story that made her really interesting to play." One character who is great fun to watch is acomputer-toting UM named Charlie. He's played by the star of TV'S "Everybody Hates Chris", thirteen year old Tyler James Williams. "Driving home one day, I saw a poster for "Everybody Hates Chris", and knew immediately that Tyler James Williams was our Charlie," Shuler Donner recalls. "Tyler is just so funny," notes Feig. "He’s an old soul. He was able to capture the essence of this kid who hangs out with adults exclusively. He wants to have friends his age, but all his references and his interests are way more grown-up." "Charlie is extremely smart and he does his own thing. He’s home-schooled and he takes fashion tips from the 1960s. He’ll get beat up, but will still look at life with the glass being half full," declares Williams. Quinn Shephard, a New Jersey native, plays the part of Donna, a sharp-tongued tomboy who packs a mighty punch. "Quinn has this amazing natural energy," remarks Feig. "It’s so fresh and real and full of personality. The camera just loves her. She hails from Jersey and plays this tough-but-lovable part of Donna really well." How then does Shephard see her character? "I think that Donna wants to isolate herself from other people because she grew up with parents who were never really nice to her, so that’s why I think she’s got this tough attitude." Brett Kelly plays Timothy "Beef" Wellington, the soft-spoken pre-teen with an active imagination. Regular cinemagoers will remember him as The Kid 2003's "Bad Santa". "I was a fan of Brett’s from "Bad Santa". I thought he was so hilarious in that," offers Feig. "What I love about Brett is that he just brings his own thing to everything he does and it’s hilarious every time. He’s a very confident kid." "My character’s nickname is 'Beef'. I think it’s because he’s a bigger kid," states Kelly. "He’s the shy, quiet type but once he goes out and finds a purpose, he comes back and is a bit more social. Kind of." Playing the 'bad guy' in the film is stand-up comic and political satirist Lewis Black. "I carry a lot of anxiety, frustration, pain and nausea around," jokes Black. "That’s not really a family-oriented kind of attitude or character. I’m the anti-family. My character has no family. He’s divorced. He lives by himself. He’s miserable." And why does he think he got the role. "I guess knowing that, they said, Let’s get Lewis." If all that sounds interesting, then grab the kids and head on down to your local cinema complex. There's mirth, mayhem, chases, hitech hijinx and the kids are excellent. The Verdict "There's a lot of fun and silly carry-on in "Unaccompanied Minors" that will have kids and adults alike roaring with laughter at times. While there hasn't been a lot of publicity surrounding its release, if you have kids aged between 6 to 13, "Unaccompanied Minors" is certainly worth having a look at. The five youngsters who play the UM's on the run from the airport staff work well together as they create mayhem and mirth while trying to steer clear of the security team who have been given the task of rounding them up. Lewis Black is in fine form as the grumpy Passenger Relations Manager Oliver Porter. Unaccompanied adults (those with grownup kids) who can still see the funny side of an adults versus the kids comedy will find this a good filler. Recommended. 3 STARS." Cast & Crew Bytes "UNACCOMPANIED MINORS" stars .......
Dyllan Christopher ["Stuart Little", "Street Of Pain" and "Seabiscuit"]; Tyler James Williams ["The Ant Bully" and "Everyone's Hero"]; Wilmer Valderrama ["Party Monster", "Fast Food Nation" and TV'S "That 70's Show"]; Brett Kelly ["Kill Me Later", "Cheats" and "Bad Santa"], Gina Mantegna ["Uncle Nino", "Suddenly 30" and "In the Land of Women"] and Lewis Black ["Hannah and Her Sisters", "The Night We Never Met", "The Gynecologists" and "Man Of The Year"] as Oliver.
"UNACCOMPANIED MINORS" was .......
directed by Paul Feig ["Life Sold Separately" and "I Am David"]; screenplay by Jacob Meszaros ["P.E."] and Mya Stark ["The Man with Two Brains"]; costume design by Lisa Tomczeszyn ["The Punisher", "Elektra" and "X-Men 3 The Last Stand"]; cinematography by Christopher Baffa ["Carnival of Souls", "Next Friday" and "Running with Scissors"]; original music by Michael Andrews ["Donnie Darko", "Cypher" and "Stuck on You"] produced by Lauren Shuler Donner ["Free Willy", "You've Got Mail", "Any Given Sunday" and "X-Men 1, 2 & 3"] and Michael Aguilar ["Out Cold", "Timeline", "Constantine" and "The Departed"]. Run Time 72 minutes Rated PG [AUST] Copyright ©2006 - Warner Bros - All Rights Reserved Copyright Protected © 2006 - Impact Internet Services - All Rights Reserved