Dutch

Katie rewinds to 1991 to unpack the forgotten John Hughes-scripted road-trip comedy Dutch – a working-class guy vs. spoiled prep-school brat odyssey starring Ed O’Neal and a young Ethan Embry (billed as Ethan Randall) that bombed hard at the box office ($4.6M against $17M) yet somehow earned a 6.5 on IMDb and a soft spot in holiday watchlists. From class warfare and fireworks fails to hitchhiking disasters, prostitute pick-ups, homeless-shelter revelations, and one very questionable BB-gun payback at the Thanksgiving table, Katie argues it’s basically an uncredited Over the Top rip-off, drops 1991 pop-culture trivia (Cindy Crawford Pepsi ad, “Everything I Do” overload, Vanilla Ice arrests), and wonders why this Planes, Trains & Automobiles lite sequel never became the annual tradition it probably deserves to be.