Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

Martin (Martin Short) and Katherine Harvey (Mary Kay Place) live in the Chicago suburb with their kids Caroline and Ben. His deceased uncle leaves him a yacht once owned by Clark Gable worth $250k. The only catch is that the boat is on the island of Ste. Pomme de Terre and they need to get it to Miami. Martin wants to bring the whole family to sail it but Katherine balks until Caroline comes home announcing her engagement to a leather jacket dude. The boat looks worst than expected and the broker hires local slobbish Captain Ron Rico (Kurt Russell).The family annoyed me at the beginning. I don't like the kid. He's not only a brat but he gets on my nerves. The girl is almost as bad. The married couple can bicker as long as it's fun. The family doesn't have the fun chemistry. I like Captain Ron a bit more. The odd couple feel between Martin and Captain Ron has some fun moments but the movie is not nearly funny enough.

Panned 1992 family-adventure about middle-class family man Martin unexpectedly inheriting a boat, and instead of paying a boat mover to sail it from the Caribbean to Miami to sell it, he takes his wife (Place) and children (Salisbury and Sisto) on a "spontaneous adventure" led by an incompetent captain-for-hire (Russell in the title role). Viewers may be getting too hung up on the fact that it is Russell in the funny role and Martin in the serious one, but the latter is excellent as a dorky yuppy whose patience is being chiseled away by the former's family-unfriendly antics. If you sit back and roll with it, it's like letting the wind carry the sails, with its wonderful score by Pike and beautiful filming locations (mainly shot in Puerto Rico).★★★ (out of four)

To decide how good a film is there are 2 primary issues -- the storyline/script and the acting.The storyline/script here is pretty decent for a comedy. Obsessive husband/father inherits yacht...goes to retrieve it out of county...has to hire a skipper to sail her back to the States. Revolutionaries, pirates, gales are among the crises the wacky American family survives. But they almost don't survive the skipper -- Captain Ron -- Kurt Russell.What sets this agreeable comedy apart is Kurt Russell's acting as Captain Ron. It's a bravura performance...perhaps his best.In terms of the other actors, the only really significant parts are those of the family. Martin Short is very good as the obsessive father/husband. I enjoyed Mary Kay Place as his wife. The rest of the supporting actors do their jobs, and Benjamin Salisbury and Meadow Sisto do well as the children.This is just a good, fun movie, with one great performance topping it off. Recommended!

A family in Chicago inherits a yacht, 'The Wanderer', formerly owned by Clark Gable. They decide to sail it from the island of St. Pomme de Terre, to Miami. They sail with the assistance of Captain Ron and their little holiday turns into more than they bargained for....This is one of those films that I always wanted to see as a teenager. It was never released theatrically here, and I believe my rental store only ever had one copy, so I had to wait over twenty years for the pleasure.and it's so not the film I thought it was. Russell is great as the titular character, all Plissken and Gabriel Cash, whenever he is on the screen, the film is hilarious, it's just the family have no dynamic, and spend the majority of the film moaning and looking miserable.I know CR is supposed to vex Martin Short, but he whines from the moment his character is introduced.The locations are wonderful, and it goes along at a fast pace, but I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would, maybe I left it a little too late.and I was really surprised by the nudity and foul language. I'm no prude, but it really threw me.Shame the film didn't.