''Coupe de Ville'' is a 1990 American

comedy-drama film Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

directed by

Joe Roth Joseph Emanuel Roth is an American film executive, producer and director. He co-founded Morgan Creek Productions in 1988 and was chairman of 20th Century Fox (1989–1993), Caravan Pictures (1993–1994), and Walt Disney Studios (1994–200 ...

. It stars Daniel Stern,

Arye Gross Arye Gross (; born March 17, 1960) is an American actor, who has appeared on a variety of television shows in numerous roles, most notably Adam Greene in the ABC sitcom ''Ellen''. Personal life Gross was born on March 17, 1960, in Los Angeles ...

, and

Patrick Dempsey Patrick Galen Dempsey (born January 13, 1966) is an American actor and race car driver. He is best known for his role as neurosurgeon Derek "McDreamy" Shepherd in ''Grey's Anatomy''. He had early success as an actor, starring in a number of fil ...

as three very different brothers asked by their father to drive a 1954 Cadillac convertible from

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

Plot

Meet the Libner brothers: Marvin, the oldest, is a sergeant in the

U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Sign ...

. Buddy, the middle child, is a timid dreamer. Bobby, the youngest, is a handsome rebel in reform school. As kids, they fought a lot and as adults, they barely speak to each other. In the summer of 1963, their tough and eccentric father, Fred, gives them a task: to bring a 1954 Cadillac convertible, bought for their mother, Betty, from Detroit to Miami. As the trip goes on, the three brothers fight and begin to reconnect with each other while trying to keep the Caddy in mint condition.

Cast

Production

Despite the film's title, the 1954 two-door

Cadillac Series 62 The Cadillac Series 40-62 is a series of cars which was produced by Cadillac from 1940 through 1964. Originally designed to complement the entry level Series 61, it became the Cadillac Series 6200 in 1959, and remained that until it was renamed t ...

convertible in the movie is not an early generation Coupe De Ville; in 1954, the Coupe De Ville was an options package (rather than a standalone model), which included a small "Coupe De Ville" script, on a four-door hardtop of the Cadillac Series 62. The full Coupe De Ville model (all hardtops) was introduced in 1959, while the convertible was not introduced until 1964. A portion of the film was shot in Cape Coral, FL. When set director Richard Villalobos needed props for the Florida segments, he connected with the CEO of Goodwill Industries of Southwest Florida to acquire props for the film, purchasing $4,000 worth of gently-used items from the local Goodwill store.

, who plays middle brother Buddy, narrated the pilot episode of ''

The Wonder Years ''The Wonder Years'' is an American coming-of-age story, coming-of-age situation comedy, comedy/Drama (film and television), drama television series created by Neal Marlens and Carol L. Black, Carol Black. It ran on American Broadcasting Company ...

'', but was replaced by Daniel Stern, who plays oldest brother Marvin, for the remainder of the series and in all subsequent rebroadcasts of the pilot.

Reception

Box office

The film was a box office failure; in its opening weekend (March 9–11, 1990) it only grossed $66,871. In the end, ''Coupe de Ville'' only opened in 170 theaters and made $715,983 in the US and Canada. It grossed $6 million worldwide.

Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

the film has an approval rating of 25% based on reviews from 8 critics.

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

of the

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...

gave it 1.5 out of 4 and wrote: "There is something deadening about the kind of formula picture where you know with absolute certainty what is going to happen, and how, and why."

Owen Gleiberman Owen Gleiberman (born February 24, 1959) is an American film critic who has been chief film critic for ''Variety'' magazine since May 2016, a title he shares with . Previously, Gleiberman wrote for ''Entertainment Weekly'' from 1990 until 2014. ...

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

gave it grade C−.

References

External links

* * * * * * {{Joe Roth 1990 films 1990s coming-of-age comedy-drama films 1990s road comedy-drama films American coming-of-age comedy-drama films American road comedy-drama films Cadillac 1990s English-language films Films about automobiles Films about brothers Films scored by James Newton Howard Films directed by Joe Roth Films set in 1963 Morgan Creek Productions films Universal Pictures films 1990 comedy films 1990 drama films 1990s American films