> from the commercials , this looks like a mild - mannered neil simonesque tale with mary tyler moore baring her bra touted as the highlight .
instead it turns out to be a hilarious film running in high gear from beginning to end .
the concept is deceptively pedestrian .
an adult adopted son is looking for his biological parents and encounters eccentric characters along the way .
the movie demonstrates just how far a good script and actors can take a mundane idea .
the son and his wife take off on the search accompanied by a woman from the agency who located his parents .
following one dead end lead after another , each funnier than the previous , they eventually end up in new mexico with his real biological parents : alan alda and lily tomlin .
it 's difficult to condense the mile - a - minute plot .
seemingly hundreds of scenes jump on top of each other without giving you a chance to recover from the last one . without giving too much away , one of the better episodes involves a gay federal alcohol , tobacco and firearms agent attempting an arrest while tripping on lsd as his bi - sexual partner is upstairs licking the armpit of a woman while her husband is in the next room seducing their traveling companion .
and it 's all done in a fairly clean , almost ( well , maybe not exactly ) family fare manner .
a grand cast ( tomlin , alda , moore , ben stiller , patricia arquette , tea leoni , george segal ) interacts in a seamless parade of laughs .
drawing from a more hyper woody allen style , the film succeeds beyond expectations .
a hilarious film running in high gear from beginning to end the film succeeds beyond expectations a seamless parade of laughs a grand cast a good script and actors