The Chaperone Directed by: Stephen Herek Starring: Kevin Corrigan, Ariel Winter, Yeardley Smith Rating: PG-13 Release Date: February 1, 2011

TRAILER SCORE: 1/10

MY THOUGHTS: A dangerous man is charged with taking care of children while on the run from his own past. Sounds eerily like The Pacifier, right? But no, it's a "brand new" movie, just a recycled idea. The only problem is, it wasn't that clever even when it was original. To make matters worse (and call me skeptical if you must) but wrestlers in an acting capacity rarely make for a good time. What I think is most surprising is the number of reputable people involved in this movie. Just for starters, the ex-con's daughter is played by Ariel Winter, who some may recognize from Modern Family. She's on a hit TV show and her agent advised her to do this? Winter may be in need of some new representation... The other surprise face in this trailer was Yeardley Smith, who voices Lisa Simpson. I've only seen her in something live action one time and that was an episode of Aaron Sorkin's Sports Night. What compelled her to break her "live action fast" for something like this? Truth be told, there are a lot of questions I've got after watching this trailer and that may be something I'll have to learn to live with, but one that's really been bugging me is, what is this supposed to be? Is this an action comedy? Is this a family friendly movie? It bounces between the maudlin reconciliation between father and daughter and the antics of Home Alone without much regard for any tone, so I'm guess they might not have any real answer themselves. Either way, The Chaperone looks like an uneven re-hash of better family friendly comedies. I'd recommend playing hooky and just watching one of the classics, like Home Alone instead.