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Spoiler Discussion and Plot Summary for the Guilt Trip

Have you read The Guilt Trip and need a run-down of the plot? Want to talk about spoilers? Need The Guilt Trip ending explained? Check out my Spoiler Discussion for the Guilt Trip by Sandie Jones .

Here’s the plan for my Spoiler Discussion for the Guilt Trip.

First I’ll do a quick run-down of the characters (as they all have a bunch of connections) and the plot. After that let’s talk spoilers and about that ending!

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Spoiler Discussion for The Guilt Trip: Main characters

The Guilt Trip by Sandie Jones. Published on August 3, 2021 by Minotaur Books.

Rachel: in her early 40s, she’s been married to Jack since her 20s and they are the parents of a college-aged son. Rachel and her college friend Noah had been planning a gap year trip after graduation, but Rachel bailed on him since she’d just met Jack. Soon after that, she got pregnant, married Jack, and postponed her dreams of being a teacher

Jack: Rachel’s husband and Will’s brother. He works at a record company.

Paige: Rachel’s best friend. Married to Noah, a friend of Rachel’s from college. A lawyer (barrister?)

Noah: Rachel’s close friend since college.

Will: Jack’s younger brother. Plays golf with Noah. Runs a water sports company.

Ali: Will’s fiance. Used to work with Jack but changed jobs.

Plot Summary for The Guilt Trip

Rachel and her husband Jack are headed to the destination wedding of Jack’s younger brother to Ali, a woman Jack used to work with.  Their friends Paige and Noah are invited as well. The six of them are staying at a beautiful beachfront villa in Portugal.

Rachel notices that Ali seems to be annoying Jack recently, and Jack tells Noah, Paige and Rachel that he doesn’t trust Ali. He thinks Ali cheated on Will with a guy at work. Rachel thinks that Jack should have told his brother, but he disagrees.

DAY TWO: 

Paige, Will, Rachel and Noah go to the supermarket. On that trip, Paige mentions that she was hesitant to marry Noah because she thought he might be in love with Rachel. 

When they get back from the store, Rachel is convinced that Ali has been with Jack in their room. She finds a rhinestone on their floor that she is sure fell off Ali’s dress.

The men go surfing. As Rachel watches Noah surf, she remembers that she and Noah slept together the night before Noah left for the gap year trip they’d planned. Rachel decided to stay behind with Jack, who she’d just met.

The guys get caught in a big wave and Noah has to be dragged out of the water.

Paige confesses to Rachel that her marriage to Noah has been a little lackluster lately. She asks Rachel what she’d do if she found out Jack was cheating on her, and Rachel says she could not forgive him.

Paige asks Rachel if she think Ali is flirting with Jack.

As they are getting ready for the rehearsal dinner, Jack tells Rachel that her reaction to Noah’s accident got him suspicious about Rachel’s feeling for Noah.

Jack suggests that Noah is still in love with Rachel. Noah suggests that Jack had something to do with his accident. 

At the rehearsal dinner, Noah and Rachel are talking to a guest who asks to see a photo of Rachel’s son. When Rachel shows her, the woman says Rachel and Jack’s son Josh looks just like Noah.  Noah storms off and Rachel goes after him.

Noah asks Rachel if Josh could be his child. Rachel tells him the dates don’t add up, though she’s clearly not really sure. Rachel says they made their choices and have to move on, but Noah says he loves her. 

Rachel sees Ali watching her and Noah talk and worries that Ali overheard what they were saying .

Paige corners Rachel and says that she overhead Ali talking to someone about Rachel, asking them “does his wife know?” Paige says she and Jack were dancing and Ali came up and whispered something to him.

Noah apologizes to Rachel for his outburst the night before. Rachel tells Noah she’s afraid Ali heard them talking.Rachel goes to Ali and Will’s room to look for her. The room is empty so Rachel looks through Ali’s drawers and finds Jack’s watch.

Rachel finds Noah on the terrace. He’s got binoculars and shows her Paige talking to Ali on the beach. This makes Rachel extremely nervous that Ali heard Rachel and Noah talking about their fling twenty years ago.

Later, Rachel asks Paige what she and Ali were talking about earlier that morning. Paige denies talking to Ali, then claims that she confronted Ali about what she was up to.

Rachel wants to talk to Ali but Paige discourages her. 

Rachel and Jack are getting dressed for the wedding and he can’t find his watch. Rachel doesn’t tell him that she saw it in Ali’s room but offers to go look for it.

Jack leaves and she decides to look at the receipts in his wallet. She finds one for a silver heart from Tiffany & Co.

Ali texts Rachel for help with her dress and also asks Rachel to help her put on her silver Tiffany heart necklace.

The group heads to the wedding, at a remote cliffside restaurant located on a steep road.

After the service, Rachel meets an old friend of Ali’s. The friend talks about Ali’s mom’s accident, a car crash that left Ali’s mom in a wheelchair. The friend also reveals that Ali was once morbidly obese. Paige convinces the friend to show them old photos of Ali.

The wedding breakfast is on the terrace. During the toasts, Rachel runs to the restrooms. She’s upset that she didn’t stop the wedding, didn’t confront Jack and Ali. Paige follows her and tells her to just get through the rest of the wedding.

After the toasts, Jack heads out to smoke with Paige. Noah comes over and tells Rachel he wants Josh to take a paternity test. He says he if he is Josh’s father, he wouldn’t tell Josh or Paige, but he needs to know.

Ali leaves the restaurant, Jack follows her. Rachel goes after them. She finds them in a cave on the beach, arguing. Jack is threatening Ali.

Ali sees Rachel and tells Jack to confess to her, or she’ll do it for him .

Ali leaves and Jack says he kissed Ali one night when drunk and ever since that, she’s been stalking him. He got her fired by finding a fake job on her resume.Rachel asks Jack why he didn’t try to dissuade Will from marrying her, and he says he tried.

They return to the restaurant, where Rachel goes back to the ladies room. Ali and her friend are there. Ali apologizes to Rachel and it’s soon obvious that Jack didn’t tell Rachel the truth. Jack isn’t cheating with Ali. He’s cheating with Paige. Rachel accuses Ali of lying.

Rachel heads back out to the wedding and grabs the mike. She tells the group that Ali’s not who she seems. Jack grabs the mike away and Rachel tells Paige and Jack that Ali says they’re having an affair.

Rachel begins to believe that Ali is telling the truth. She and Noah start comparing notes. She notices Paige has a Tiffany heart bracelet.

Rachel talks to Ali who says she’s known about Paige and Jack for over a year and has been trying to get Jack to come clean. Ali found Jack’s watch after he and Paige had a liaison on the roof of the villa.

When Rachel and Ali join the group on the terrace to watch fireworks, they find out that someone shared the photo of fat Ali with the entire wedding.

Rachel suspects Paige and reflects the only reason she ended up with Jack because she was pregnant. Suddenly she sees a blinding light. It’s a car, coming right at Rachel and Ali at high speed. The car hits Rachel.

When she’s able to get up, Rachel sees that Jack is injured. Noah is all right. Ali is unconscious. Paige is missing .

In the Hospital After the Accident

Rachel wakes up in the hospital. The police want to know who she was with right before the accident. She says she was with Ali. That she didn’t know where Paige and Jack and Noah were, but she thinks Paige and Jack were outside.

Noah comes back and says Paige is dead. The police say her body was found in the car.

Rachel worries that Paige might have heard Rachel and Ali discussing the fact that Noah could be Rachel and Jack’s son’s father.

Rachel tells the police that Paige and Jack were having an affair. The police say that someone else may have been in the car with Paige.

Rachel drifts off and wakes up to hear Jack telling the police that he was going to leave Rachel for Paige . He claims he was on the terrace and hit by the car.

Jack suggests Ali was in the car, and that she was jealous because he slept with her before Paige. Jack lies to the police, saying that Rachel was furious and violent after she found out about the affairs.

The police tell Jack they found his watch in the car.

Spoiler Discussion for The Guilt Trip: What Was the Ending?

Months after the wedding.

Rachel is attending a service for Ali.

Ali’s mom tearfully tells Rachel that Ali thought exposing the affair was the right thing to do.

Ali’s mom Maria fills in what happened at the wedding. Maria overheard Paige tell Jack that they were finished. Jack was furious, saying if he couldn’t have Paige, no one could.

Everyone assumes Paige and Jack both got in the car and he was the one who drove into the crowd.

Surprise: the service is not a funeral, but Ali’s re-do of her wedding to Will.

Ali suffered a brain injury in the accident but is doing well.

Rachel has started her teacher training.

Rachel tells Ali that Jack IS their son’s biological father (I think she’s lying.) We also learn that Ali (and perhaps her mom) testified against Jack, who was convicted of manslaughter.

Ali’s mom says that the fact that Jack’s watch was found in the car also helped get him convicted.

The Guilt Trip: Epilogue and Last Minute Plot Twist

The person narrating the epilogue says that before the accident, they saw Rachel put Jack’s watch into Paige’s bag. We will get to that below:

Spoiler Discussion for The Guilt Trip

What did you think of this one? I thought the twists and turns were fun, and that the misdirection about Jack’s affair being with Paige, not Ali, worked well.

But there was SO MUCH dialogue. That got a little tedious for me.

My questions about The Guilt Trip:

Who do you think the narrator of the epilogue in the guilt trip was.

My initial guess was Ali . That’s because I think the narrator refers to the conversation between Ali, Maria, and Rachel.

The narrator says “I wanted Rachel to tell me what I already knew. But just as she was about to, I realized it wasn’t important.” That “just as she was about to” had to refer to the conversation at the second wedding, where Ali says there is no other way Jack’s watch got into the car.

Also in that conversation, Ali looks at Rachel “ so intently that it feels as if she can see straight through her. Perhaps she can .”

To me, that means Ali knew what Rachel was about to tell her and stops her. Because she knows that Rachel put the watch in the bag and is telling Rachel that it doesn’t matter anymore.

However, Meredith in comments suggests Noah as a possible narrato r and I like that idea!

The arguments for Noah are 1) Noah and Rachel are closer and he would be more likely to expect Rachel to tell him the truth and 2) the narrator says “knowing Rachel as I know her” and Noah knows Rachel much better than Ali does.

I’m still going with Ali, but I think Meredith’s Noah guess is a good one. What do you think?

Who drove the car into the wedding party?

Thanks to Laurel-Manette for her excellent question in comments. Here is my answer (from the comments):

What we do know: The car ended up in the water. Paige’s body is found in the car (the police don’t say if she was in the driver’s seat or the passenger seat).

After the accident Rachel finds Jack lying on the terrace. The police say that Jack’s watch was in footwell of the car (presumably it fell out of Paige’s bag during the crash.)

No one seems to have seen the driver, and Paige is dead, so we can’t hear her side of the story.

Possibility #1: Paige was driving the car, either alone or with Jack in the car.

In this scenario, Paige overheard Rachel and Noah talking about how Noah could be Rachel’s son’s father and flew into a rage.

As Rachel says earlier about Paige, if someone is capable of sleeping with their best friend’s husband, they are capable of anything. In this scenario, Jack gets blamed because Rachel put his watch in Paige’s handbag as a way of saying “I know you are sleeping with my husband.” BUT was Jack in the car with Paige?

Paige could have told Jack what she’d overheard. Jack would have also been extremely upset and, in their hurry to leave the wedding together, maybe Paige (accidentally or on purpose) drove into the wedding party.

Possibility #2: Jack was the one who was driving, with Paige in the car.

Maybe Jack was the one who overheard the conversation between Rachel and Noah and was shocked and hurt to realize he might not be his son’s biological father.

So maybe, in a rage, he told Paige he wanted to leave and then (accidentally or on purpose) drove into the group. BUT: he was found on the terrace after the accident, not in the car.

When he’s questioned by the police, Jack suggests that maybe Ali was driving and jumped out of the car, which is an absurd theory.

But maybe Jack got the idea because that is what Jack did himself. When Rachel reaches Jack after the crash, he does seem badly hurt.

Could he have managed to jump out of the car before it flew into the water? I feel that’s sort of doubtful. At the end, Ali’s mom suggests to Rachel that Jack was driving, with Paige in the car.

BUT if Paige’s body had been found in the passenger seat, wouldn’t the police say that?

While I think Jack had a stronger motive to drive the car into the wedding party, I still think the evidence seems to suggest that Paige was driving the car alone , but I am curious to hear other people’s theories!

How did Jack get framed by his wife (and Ali) for causing Paige’s death?

The book suggests that Rachel put Jack’s watch in Paige’s bag as a way of telling Paige that she knew she slept with Rachel’s husband Jack.

Then when the police found Jack’s watch in the car, they assumed Jack was in the car with Paige. I’m assuming that Jack denied being in the car and claimed he was being framed, but Ali testified that Jack was a known liar, which got him convicted.

Other Questions:

Where does Paige (or Jack) get the car to drive onto the terrace? Noah, Rachel and Paige take a cab to the wedding. (Jack goes earlier with the bridal party.)

When Rachel is upset at the wedding, Paige offers to call her a taxi. Also if you were going to impulsively steal a car and run down someone with it, would your first thought be to grab your purse? Why? You don’t need car keys or a driver’s license.

Maybe this suggests that Paige and Jack just intended to leave the wedding, and the crash was an accident.

I didn’t understand the timeline of the wedding day. The group get up, shower and get dressed, and head to the wedding. After the ceremony, an announcer invites everyone to the “wedding breakfast.” But when Rachel follows Ali and Jack outside to the caves, Rachel says the sun is setting.

The accident clearly happens at night, because there are fireworks and Rachel sees the car’s headlights as it bears down on her. How long is this wedding, anyway? (Someone in comments pointed out that in the UK, “wedding breakfast” is used for any wedding meal. Thanks!)

Was the book suggesting that Jack IS Josh’s biological father?

Rachel tells Ali that yes, Josh did “lose” his father. To prison? This was a little vague for me, but I think Rachel means 1) Josh lost the only father he has ever known and 2) she’s not telling Josh the truth, which is that Noah is his father.

Was Jack trying to get caught cheating? Carrying around the receipt for Paige’s bracelet seemed odd.

I hope you enjoyed my Spoiler Discussion for the Guilt Trip

What are your questions and do you have any answers to mine? Please comment and if you want to be notified of responses to your comments OR all future comments, there are options for that!

If you’re looking for similar books to read, you can try Her Dark Lies by J. T. Ellison OR The Guest List by Lucy Foley, both about murder and mayhem at a destination wedding. I have spoiler discussions for both:

Spoiler Discussion for Her Dark Lies

Spoiler Discussion for The Guest List

I think it’s Noah telling the epilogue. That he saw Rachel put the watch in Paige’s bag. And as information comes to light (the affair) he keeps quiet to keep Rachel safe.

I think the timeline of the wedding is that it’s an all day affair. They are there long enough for low tide (the beach is visible) to high tide (which swallows the beach and then some).

As far as Josh losing his father – I interpret it to mean he lost the only father he has known (to prison). I don’t think Rachel would tell him that Noah was his father – even if they found it to be true.

Ooh interesting on the Noah narration. Going to go back and look. And yes I agree that I don’t think Rachel will tell Josh

But the narrator mentions the watch inscription which Ali knew but I doubt Noah would

Ooh great point. Thanks, LiliAnn!!

I don’t think it’s Noah because in the prologue the speaker wakes up in a hospital bed and is asked if they knew the deceased which noah was the one to identify the body so the police wouldn’t ask him that and also he wasn’t injured so he wasn’t in a hospital bed.

This sounds so dumb but I just finished it and I’m confused at who was driving the car?? If it wasn’t Jack, and Rachel put his watch in the car, does that mean rachel killed Paige? Help lol!

There are no dumb questions here! Also, the book doesn’t really give a definitive answer. Who was in the car, and who was driving??

What we do know: The car ended up in the water. Paige’s body is found in the car. Rachel finds Jack lying on the terrace. Jack’s watch was in the car (and presumably Paige’s bag, since the watch was in the bag.)

Possibility 1: Paige was driving the car. She overheard Rachel and her husband Noah talking about how Noah could be Rachel’s son’s father and flew into a rage. As Rachel says earlier about her, if she’s capable of sleeping with her best friend’s husband, she’s capable of anything. In this scenario, Jack gets blamed as well because Rachel put his watch in Paige’s bag as a way of saying “I know what you did.” BUT was Jack in the car with her? She could have told him what she’d overheard and they agreed to leave the wedding and then she (accidentally or on purpose) drove into the wedding party.

Scenario #2 Jack was the one who was driving, with Paige in the car. Maybe HE was the one who overheard the conversation between Rachel and Noah and was shocked and hurt to realize he might not be his son’s biological father. So maybe, in a rage, he drove into the group. When he’s questioned by the police, he even suggests that Ali was driving and got out of the car, which is perhaps what Jack did himself. When Rachel reaches him after the crash, he does seem badly hurt. But could he really have managed to get out of the car before it went into the water? At the end, Ali’s mom suggests that Jack was driving, with Paige in the car. But not sure why she says this.

My theory is still that Paige was alone in the car, but curious to hear other people’s theories!

Thank you! Super helpful!! Thanks for taking the time to write this all out! 🙂

No problem. And thanks for making me think about the possible driver in a different way. I wouldn’t have considered Dan except for your question 🙂

It’s a small part of one of your questions, but in England, a wedding reception is usually called the wedding breakfast even if it’s lunch or dinner.

Dale, thank you! I am an Anglophile but I did not know that 🙂

There are lots of lies and half truths.

Ali is lying. Her and Jack did sleep together and when Jack finished the affair to be with Paige he made sure Ali got the sack.

Ali wants to make out that Jack is a fibber so that she can claim they didn’t sleep together in order to protect her relationship with Will. That’s why she’s happy to give evidence that puts Jack into prison. Perhaps she only went out with Will in the first place to get back at Jack, but then fell properly in love.

Rachel is happy for Jack to go to prison because he lied about his affair with Ali and with Paige and who knows who else. He may or may not have been driving the car but she’s been manipulated so much who can say. It also leaves Rachel free to be with Noah who she realised she really loved when he nearly died.

I personally think Paige drove the car in a suicide mission because she knew that Rachel knows about the affair (from the watch Rachel put in her handbag) and can’t live with herself.

Paige realised that Rachel loves Noah too because of how she was when he nearly died and maybe the suicide was also her gift to Rachel to say sorry.

Hi Sally, Ooh, I love all your excellent observations. I agree with everything you said except maybe your theory about Paige. To me, Paige didn’t seem the slightest bit guilty about betraying her best friend. I think it’s definitely possible that after Paige overheard Rachel say that Paige’s husband Noah could be the father of Rachel’s son, she ran off in a blind fury and accidentally crashed the car. That, or she was furious at Noah and Rachel and meant to drive the car into them. I think she always resented Rachel and Noah’s closeness and slept with Jack as revenge.

It says the only one not hurt was Noah so I’m thinking Paige ended things with Jack because she realised she loved Noah after the surfing accident then after finding out about Rachel and Noah, tried to run Rachel down out of rage. She was a very fiery person. She specifically avoided Noah because she still loved him. Jack’s comment about if I can’t have you noone can was potentially just a spur of the moment comment or something he planned to act on in the future. She didn’t live long enough though.

That makes so much sense. She decided to re-dedicate herself to Noah and then after finding out about Noah possibly being Rachel’s son’s father and Rachel having a thing for Noah, she just lost it.

The one thing that made me question if the ridiculous story of Ali jumping out of the car might have happened was the fact that Ali’s mom was in a wheelchair from a car accident. Like I want to know did Ali also cause that car accident? Is that why they kept talking about how her mom ended up in a wheelchair?

After the surfing accident, Paige has sex with Jack in the rooftop hot tub so I don’t think she suddenly realizes how much she loves Noah.

I listened to the audiobook and it is Ali’s voice in the epilogue.

Very interesting! So what is your take on what happens in the car crash and why?

One of the most poorly written books I’ve ever had the displeasure of reading. And so frigging dumb!! I skipped over so many paragraphs of idiocy! Ridiculous that it gets such high praise.

Hi Mary, I hope you enjoy your next book more!

I just finished reading the book and I’m also a bit confused. Why didn’t the police mention whether Paige was in the driver’s or passenger’s seat.. that way she wont be a suspect if she is in the passenger’s seat (maybe I missed that part). Also could there be a chance that Noah was driving? And jumped out right before the car fell off? How could it be Ali if Ali was talking to Rachel while the incident happened. Also maybe Ali put the watch in Paige’s purse since she is the last one to have it.. I’m no investigator but the fact that Jack had facial injuries wouldn’t that suggest that there is a bigger chance that he flew out of a moving car and rolled around verses if he got hit by a car he would fall backwards? I’m reaching at this point haha! 🙂 I have too many questions but no answers!

Hi Hilda – I think a lot of us felt that way. The book ended, and then all our questions didn’t get answers! I think Paige got thrown from the car, so it couldn’t be proven where she was sitting. I’m going to have to review my notes before answering all the rest of the questions, so stay tuned!

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The Guilt Trip

Where to watch.

Rent The Guilt Trip on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV, or buy it on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV.

What to Know

Seth Rogen and Barbra Streisand have enough chemistry to drive a solidly assembled comedy; unfortunately, The Guilt Trip has a lemon of a script and is perilously low on comedic fuel.

Audience Reviews

Cast & crew.

Anne Fletcher

Barbra Streisand

Joyce Brewster

Andy Brewster

Brett Cullen

Colin Hanks

Andrew Margolis Jr.

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The Guilt Trip

• As inventor Andy Brewster is about to embark on the road trip of a lifetime, a quick stop at his mom's house turns into an unexpected cross-country voyage with her along for the ride.
• Los Angeles based organic chemist Andrew Brewster has just sunk his life savings into developing and now marketing an environmentally friendly, effective and human safe home cleaning product. Despite these attributes, he is having problems making any sales to distributors and retailers. He has planned a cross country business trip via automobile to make sales pitches to various companies along the way, starting in New York City and ending in Las Vegas. While in New York, Andy plans to stay with his overbearing mother, New Jersey residing Joyce Brewster, with who he has a love/hate relationship and who he does not see very often anymore. He doesn't want to tell her of his sales failures thus far as he knows she will only add more than her two-cents into the matter, which he doesn't want. Joyce's focus of attention is on Andy's single status and what looks to be his stalled romantic life, out of which again he wants her to stay. Widowed when Andy was eight, Joyce has never remarried or dated for that matter, she not wanting to go through the trouble of a critical eye of another person in her life. Andy wishes she would make an effort with men both to make her happy and so that she will focus on her own life instead of his. When Joyce makes a revelation about her past love life to Andy just before he is ready to depart from New Jersey, Andy decides to invite Joyce along on the trip, making a final stop in San Francisco to revisit that past without telling her the reason. Joyce accepts. Through the ups and downs of their trip, Andy and Joyce may come to a better understanding of their relationship, Andy's business failures, and what is needed to move on with their lives as happy, productive people. — Huggo
• Andy Brewster (Seth Rogen) is a UCLA-graduate organic chemist and inventor. He is attempting to get his environmentally friendly cleaning product, ScieoClean, in a major retail store. However, each retail store he visits dismisses him before he can end his pitch. After a disappointing sales pitch to K-Mart, he visits his mother, Joyce Brewster (Barbra Streisand), in New Jersey before leaving on a cross-country trip to Las Vegas, lying to her that his pitch ended well so she won't worry about him. While there she reveals to him that he was named after a boy she fell in love with in Florida named Andrew Margolis, whom she hoped would object to her marriage with Andy's father. However, he never did and she felt that she never mattered to him afterwards. After a little research, he finds Andrew Margolis is still alive and unmarried living in San Francisco. He invites his unknowing mother on the trip, claiming he wants to spend some time with her.
• Andy Brewster lives in California and he is traveling the country trying to sell his organic cleaning product Scieo Clean. He makes a presentation to Kmart but the executives do not seem that interested. Andy goes home to New Jersey to visit his mother Joyce and claims he is doing well. Joyce thinks he left home to get away from her but Andy later says he went to UCLA because it had the best organic chemistry program. Joyce doesn't want to go to a meeting of a singles group but Andy wants her to meet a man. Andy's father died when he was eight. While they are still at Joyce's home, Joyce watches an old home movie. Joyce tells Andy that he is named after Andrew Margolis, who she dated when they were in high school. But they went their separate ways and Joyce married Andy's father. No, Andrew Margolis was not Andy's biological father, even though Joyce dated both men at the same time. Andy calls the company that Joyce said Andrew Margolis worked for. He finds out Andrew Margolis is still working for the company, but in the San Francisco office, and that he is single. Andy asks his mother to travel with him. He has several meetings in Virginia, and others in Texas, Santa Fe, Vegas and finally San Francisco (what he doesn't admit is that the final meeting is with her former boyfriend). Joyce points out that Andy's ex Jessica is in Nashville, which is on the way. Andy doesn't want to stop and see Jessica, but things change. When they rent a car, Andy wants an SUV in case of snow but Joyce persuades him to get a small cheap car. Joyce brings along "Middlesex", a book on tape about someone who is neither male nor female. Andy finds it annoying and sometimes embarrassing because of the explicit descriptions of romance. Joyce accompanies Andy to one of his meetings and gives him advice, but she is more annoying than anything else. And she won't put her purse on the dirty floor, but she has a device that attaches the purse to the table. Joyce waits outside, and Andy doesn't listen to the advice, his product is rejected, and Andy tells his mother things went well. When they rent a hotel room, the clerk thinks Andy is getting lucky with an older woman. Andy insists on two rooms and Joyce says two rooms are too expensive, so they stay in one. When they arrive in Tennessee, it looks like the weather will be bad. And it starts snowing. Andy realizes one of the tires may be flat. They stop at a strip club and ask how to get someone to fix the car. One of the dancers knows about cars and goes out to take a look. She finds that there was ice between the tire and the car and the tire is not flat. Since they need a place to stay until the storm passes, Joyce persuades Andy to call Jessica, who comes to pick them up. It turns out Jessica is married to Rob and pregnant, and they live in a nice house. Andy and Joyce have a nice visit where it is revealed Andy proposed to her, which Joyce did not realize. Soon Andy and Joyce are back on the road. In Texas, Andy has a meeting with Costco. He finds out the person he is meeting with will come out to where he is waiting with his mother, so Joyce gets involved with the presentation. The Costco employee Ryan doesn't seem interested in Andy's product, especially after Joyce keeps pointing out problems with Andy's presentation and Andy gets mad. Ryan would like to know how to get what Joyce uses to hang her purse. Andy and Joyce have an argument and Joyce goes to a bar. Joyce is having a good time when Andy tries to get her to leave. Andy gets a black eye from one of the men. Andy and Joyce continue to travel across the desert and Joyce wants to see some attractions. And they have to eat so they stop in Lubbock at a place called Cattleman's Ranch. Andy finally reveals to his mother that he is a failure. After the waitress mentions a huge steak that few people succeed in eating, Joyce accepts the challenge. If she can eat a dinner that includes several pounds of steak in an hour, she eats free. If not, the dinner costs $100. With encouragement from Ben Graw, Joyce is successful. She leaves the restaurant wearing a t-shirt saying she ate that meal. Ben says he was just passing through but was so impressed with Joyce that he would like to spend more time with her. His business will include a trip to New Jersey. Joyce isn't that interested, but she does take his number. Andy and Joyce stop at the Grand Canyon. In Vegas, Andy and Joyce check in at a nice hotel. Joyce goes to the slot machines and wins enough to get her ears pierced. She already bought frog earrings. The next day Andy makes his presentation with host Amy to Home Shopping Network, which is recorded. The executives are bored and Andy sees Joyce and is reminded of the advice she gave him. Andy asks Amy and the others about their families and reminds them how much safer his product is than other cleaning products. Joyce had suggested actually drinking it, which Andy does. The executives are very impressed. Joyce wants to stay behind and have more fun in Vegas, but Andy has to confess that he has no meeting in San Francisco. In fact, the meeting is for his mom, with Andrew Margolis. This upsets Joyce but she agrees to go along. Andy has found out where Andrew Margolis lives and he and Joyce go to the house. A young man answers the door and thinks they are trying to sell something he doesn't want. Andy asks the man about his father and the man says his father died but did run the company he works for now. His name is Andrew as well. Joyce is upset to learn that Andrew Margolis died but happy to see everything Andrew Jr. has to show him. However, Andrew Jr. says his father never mentioned Joyce and that his mother is in Florida. Then Andrew's sister walks in with the mail. Her name is Joyce. This makes Joyce Brewster very happy because it means Andrew never forgot her. At the airport Andy and Joyce turn in the rental car after the narrator reads the ending of the book. Andy and Joyce go their separate ways. Andy sees as Joyce makes a call on her cell phone and thinks she can't wait five minutes to call her son, but the call is to Ben.

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The guilt trip: film review.

Barbra Streisand and Seth Rogen star in a mother-son road-trip comedy from director Anne Fletcher ("The Proposal").

By Todd McCarthy

Todd McCarthy

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The Guilt Trip Streisand Cheering - H 2012

Yentl goes yenta in The Guilt Trip , a creakily old-fashioned comedy that forgot to pack the laughs along with the nudging and kvetching. Possibly the first American film in decades in which characters drive cross-country courtesy of process shots out the back window, this mother-son yakfest blows a gasket and all four tires before it even hits the road. With Seth Rogen in very subdued mode, his fans will smell this one a mile away; it might be a movie only their mothers — or die-hard Barbra Streisand fans — could love.

When was the last time an overbearing Jewish mother giving her schlemiel of a son a hard time about not being married was a major component of a big Hollywood film? This sort of routine used to pop up all the time in American comedy but pretty much has vanished in the rearview mirror since the heyday of Ruth Gordon . So to behold Streisand’s New York mom Joyce Brewster hectoring her homely visiting son Andrew (Rogen) about his myriad personal shortcomings is to revisit a musty mind-set that the minor updates in Dan Fogelman ‘s woeful script can’t begin to freshen up.

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The early scenes of Andrew’s return from California to his childhood home are so embarrassing that you wonder if such impressive consistency can possibly be sustained. Andrew knows what he’s in for, but that still doesn’t help when Mom immediately starts in asking what happened to former girlfriends X, Y and Z, complaining that he went to UCLA just to get as far away from her as possible, pointing out that she hasn’t had a date since her husband’s long-ago death and then recommending that Andrew get therapy. Enough, already.

In an effort to connect with Andrew, Joyce unloads what she considers a bombshell of a secret: She actually had a boyfriend before she met her husband and loved him so much she named her only son after him. Considering it odd she never tried to look him up after his dad died, Andrew does research that reveals he’s an executive in San Francisco. With an ulterior motive in mind, he invites Mom to join him on a drive across the country, during which he’ll make stops in Virginia, Texas, Santa Fe and Las Vegas to hawk a nontoxic cleansing liquid product he has created to potential retailers.

These pitch sessions are desultory affairs — a salesman Andrew is not — and Joyce doesn’t help matters by hovering and carrying on in ways that scarcely help her son’s cause. To save a few bucks, she insists they rent a compact rather than an SUV, forcing them to share very close quarters as they listen to Jeffrey Eugenides ’ gender-bending Middlesex on CD. The way Joyce gets excited about gift shops and free continental breakfasts at motels (where she insists they stay in one room to save more money), you’d think she’d never been out of New York before.

In terms of viewer relief from the constant haranguing, getting on the road held out the hope of changing scenery and a possible parade of lively supporting roles. Instead, we get process shots of the two leads crammed into the tiny car intercut with second unit coverage of highways and the countryside. They do get out of the car to look at the Grand Canyon, but after about five seconds, they decide they’ve seen enough and move on to Vegas, which Joyce actually likes.

The one stop that at least yields something different is at a Texas steakhouse, where anyone who can eat a 4 1/2-pound steak and all the trimmings in one hour gets it for free. Uncharacteristically, Joyce volunteers, launching a gorge-fest that at least presents the half-amusing spectacle of Streisand pigging out and wins Joyce an admirer in the form of a handsome older gent (the indisputably handsome Brett Cullen ) who’d like to have her come up and see him sometime.

The climactic visit to San Francisco to track down Joyce’s former beau predictably plays on, and aims to stimulate, bittersweet emotions. At the same time, the easy-to-get point of the enterprise is to stress that the mother and son’s prolonged time together has forced them to break through their various barriers, grudges and expectations to arrive at a more honest satisfying relationship. Yep, that’ll do the trick every time.

CONCERT REVIEW: Barbra Streisand in Brooklyn

The Guilt Trip  provides heavy competition with director Anne Fletcher ‘s previous films ( Step Up , 27 Dresses , The Proposal ) as to which is the most formulaic and conventional, but this one takes the cake for being the most visually unimaginative and clunky. Worse, even the most easy-to-please audiences will struggle to find more than a half-dozen laughs here, so bereft is the film of fresh comic ideas.

Rogen — who for some reason sports about a one-day’s grizzle of beard throughout — drastically underplays, probably realizing that, with Streisand emoting so broadly, it was the only way to go. For her part, some combination of cosmetic expertise, cinematic enhancement and natural endowment makes Streisand look more like she’s in her 50s than in her 70s, which is the actuality. Those who’ve always liked the singer-actress probably won’t mind her here; for the nonfan, this is not the film that will change your mind.

A retinue of terrific character actors could have greatly enlivened the proceedings, but Fogelman ( Cars , Bolt , Tangled , Crazy, Stupid, Love ) didn’t write the parts for them.

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The Guilt Trip – review

W hat's the word for a mom-son relationship comedy? An Oedmance? A Freudcom? Well, there's a strange lack of laughs with this one, an all-round shortfall in charm. From the outset, the movie attempts to stake a clumsy and unearned claim on our willingness both to laugh and to shed an indulgent tear. Seth Rogen plays Andy, a single guy who is forever being hassled by his overfond widowed mom, played by Barbra Streisand . Their sub-Woody Allenish relationship is bland and unfunny; the Jewish stereotype is coyly hinted at but never made explicit. Andy is an entrepreneur who has invented a new form of eco-conscious cleaning fluid, and now has to go on the road trying to sell it to various companies. But here is where the very premise of the movie – enshrined in the title – fails to stack up. The idea is that he is "guilt-tripped" into letting his feisty mom come along for the ride. Yet however domineering, she never seems pathetic or lonely or even all that interested in coming along (that sad part of her character naturally has to be delayed until later in the story), so his decision to invite her is basically unconvincing. What we're left with is a bafflingly dull road movie. Maybe Alexander Payne could have done something with this.

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The Guilt Trip is a 2012 American road comedy film directed by Anne Fletcher, starring Barbra Streisand and Seth Rogen , who both also served as executive producers on the film.

Andy Brewster (Rogen), a UCLA-graduate organic chemist and inventor, visits his mother Joyce (Streisand) in New Jersey before leaving on a cross-country trip to Las Vegas. After his mother reveals that he was named after a boy she fell in love with in Florida named Andrew Margolis, and after a little research he discovers that there's an Andrew Margolis living in San Francisco, he invites his unknowing mother on the trip, claiming he wants to spend some time with her. The road trip quickly becomes hard for Andy as his mother continues to intervene in his life, but over time, Andy and Joyce begin to genuinely enjoy each other's company.

This film features examples of:

• All for Nothing : At least in regards of the search for Andrew Margolis, it turns out that the Andrew Margolis Andy's mother was talking about died five years before, and the "Andrew Margolis" Andy had found was actually his son, Andrew Margolis Jr.
• Bittersweet Ending : On one hand, Andrew Margolis was dead all along, so Joyce will not be able to clear the air with him. On the other hand, Joyce is assured that he thought about her in some way after being told he named his daughter Joyce; Andy is able to successfully pitch his product with Joyce's help; and Joyce and Andy's relationship grows much closer than they had been; plus Joyce arranges a date with Ben McGraw, the man she met during the trip.
• Dead All Along : It turns out that Andrew Margolis, Joyce's old flame, died five years ago, the "Andrew Margolis" Andy found living in San Francisco actually being his son, Andrew Margolis Jr.
• Road Trip Plot : The films is about a man and his mother having to go through a cross-country road trip. Hilarity Ensues .
• Signs of Disrepair : Andy and Joyce are forced to make a stop after bad weather makes the roads bad to see. They come upon "Capital City TOPLESS Restaurant" but the "LE" is burned out and the sign reads "TOP__SS" which Joyce mistakes for "tacos".
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The guilt trip (2012).

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Get ready for one mother of a road trip.

An inventor and his mom hit the road together so he can sell his latest invention.

Anne Fletcher

Dan Fogelman

Top Billed Cast

Andy Brewster

Barbra Streisand

Joyce Brewster

Yvonne Strahovski

Colin Hanks

Brett Cullen

Andrew Margolis Jr.

Ari Graynor

Joyce Margolis

Kathy Najimy

Full Cast & Crew

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A review by ZenMaster_Flash

Written by zenmaster_flash on december 21, 2012.

This is a very pleasant comedy indeed.

The laughs are at just the right density.

It may be about a Jewish Mother and her grown son, but that is never evident; which is wise, as the humor is universal.

The "chemistry" between Babs and Seth approaches extraordinary. They are very believable as an adult son and an adoring mother adept at piling on guilt with a steam shovel.

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Status Released

Original Language English

Budget $40,000,000.00

Revenue $41,863,726.00

• parent child relationship
• woman director

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The Guilt Trip

Pairing Barbra Streisand and Seth Rogen as a neurotic New Jersey mother-son odd couple, then sending the two on a road trip through Texas and the South, Anne Fletcher's "The Guilt Trip" would seem to have uncovered some rarely tapped veins of Oedipal and culture-clash comedy.

By Andrew Barker

Andrew Barker

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Pairing Barbra Streisand and Seth Rogen as a neurotic New Jersey mother-son odd couple, then sending the two on a road trip through Texas and the South, Anne Fletcher ‘s “The Guilt Trip” would seem to have uncovered some rarely tapped veins of Oedipal and culture-clash comedy. Yet the film scarcely bothers to mine them, making for a timid, modestly pleasant time-passer distinguished mostly by its unexplored potential. All the same, the attraction of seeing Streisand in her first non-“Fockers” role in more than a decade, as well as the general dearth of grandma-friendly comedies, should generate healthy holiday weekend business.

Dialing down his zaniness, if not his volume, Rogen plays Andy, a permanently flustered Los Angeles-based organic chemist who’s ready to launch his years-in-the-making invention, a cleaning product whose easily mispronounced name (Scioclean) poses the first of his many problems in pitching it to wholesalers. As a last-ditch marketing ploy, Andy plots a weeklong road trip to hawk his wares at company HQs across the country, starting with his hometown in New Jersey.

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While there, he stops to visit his loquacious, long-widowed mother, Joyce (Streisand). Displaying all the general tendencies of a stereotypical Jewish mother with none of the cultural specifics, the overprotective, oversharing Joyce is allegedly responsible for Andy’s adult neuroses, though we rarely see her venture beyond typical motherly meddling. In any case, Andy whines through the visit until he’s about to head off, when he abruptly finds himself moved by his mother’s loneliness and revelations of a long-ago lost love, and invites her along for the journey.

Perhaps the biggest problem here is that “ The Guilt Trip ” is one of the most homebound road movies in recent memory, mostly alternating between motel rooms and cramped car seats, with little sense of forward momentum. When Dan Fogelman ‘s script does pause to build up a potential setpiece — dropping the twosome into a snowstorm , a steakhouse eating competition or Andy’s ex-girlfriend’s house — it tends to lose its nerve and simply moves on, never nudging its characters far enough past the borders of propriety to generate real laughs. In particular, to include a scene in which Streisand and Rogen are stranded at a strip club for hours, without even attempting a joke at its expense, should be a cinematic crime.

Helmer Anne Fletcher (“The Proposal,” “27 Dresses”) does achieve some genuine moments of warmth, and Streisand is consistently adorable in her tastefully dowdy duds, conveying the requisite amount of Babsiness without getting too fabulous for the character. Rogen, for his part, never quite finds the right rhythm for Andy, and often veers toward one-note irritation, although his disastrous pitch meetings eventually allow him the freedom to unleash his bellowing frustrations. (The film is chockablock with product placements, but these recurring pitch scenes provide some particularly canny, plot-friendly uses, allowing real-life companies — K-Mart, Orchard, Costco, et al. — to decline Andy’s invention by referencing the high standards of the many fine products they already offer. The shamelessness is almost admirable.)

A two-hander through and through, the pic carves out some moderate breathing room for Brett Cullen as a handsome Texan suitor and Kathy Najimy as a Jersey housewife, though most other characters are strictly relegated to scenery. Technical specs are all suitably professional, if never particularly distinguished.

• Production: A Paramount release of a Paramount Pictures and Skydance Prods. presentation of a Michaels/Goldwyn production. Produced by Lorne Michaels, John Goldwyn, Evan Goldberg. Executive producers, Seth Rogen, Barbra Streisand, Mary McLaglen, Dan Fogelman, David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, Paul Schwake. Directed by Anne Fletcher. Screenplay, Dan Fogelman.
• Crew: Camera (Deluxe color), Oliver Stapleton; editors, Priscilla Nedd Friendly, Dana E. Glauberman; music, Christophe Beck; music supervisor, Buck Damon; production designer, Nelson Coates; costume designer, Danny Glicker; art director, David Lazan; set decorator, Karen O'Hara; sound (Dolby/Datasat), Peter J. Devlin; supervising sound editor, Karen Baker Landers; re-recording mixers, Scott Millan, Greg P. Russell; visual effects supervisors, Jamie Dixon, Clark Parkhurst; visual effects, Hammerhead Prods., Lola VFX; assistant director, Joe Camp III; casting, Cathy Sandrich Gelfond, Amanda Mackey. Reviewed at Paramount Studios, Los Angeles, Dec. 6, 2012. MPAA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 95 MIN.
• With: Joyce Brewster - Barbra Streisand Andrew Brewster - Seth Rogen Ben Graw - Brett Cullen Rob - Colin Hanks Andrew Margolis Jr. - Adam Scott Anita - Miriam Margolyes Gayle - Kathy Najimy Amy - Nora Dunn Jessica - Yvonne Strahovski

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• The Guilt Trip

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The Guilt Trip (2012)

Genre: comedy / road movie, duration: 95 minuten, country: united states, directed by: anne fletcher, stars: seth rogen , barbra streisand and yvonne strahovski, imdb score: 5,8  (39.950), releasedate: 19 december 2012.

The Guilt Trip plot

"Get ready for one mother of a road trip" Andy Brewster (Seth Rogen) is an inventor living in Los Angeles. He comes up with a fantastic organic cleaning agent but finds no one interested in manufacturing the product. Andy plans a business trip to promote his product and decides to take his recently widowed mother (Barbra Streisand) with him. She has been depressed since his father's death, so Andy has the following idea: on the journey he will surprise her with a stopover in San Francisco, where one of her former lovers lives.

Actors and actresses

Andy Brewster

Joyce Brewster

Andrew Margolis Jr.

Joyce Margolis

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The Guilt Trip Movie Official Spot: First

The Guilt Trip Movie Official Spot: One Trip

The Guilt Trip Movie Official Clip: Airport

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• 8045 messages

Voor de verandering speelt Seth Rogen in 'The Guilt Trip' (2012) eens niet de aaibare stoner en is de bromance in kwestie hier meer een momance. Het karakter van Rogen gaat namelijk op een road trip met zijn New Yorkse mamma (Barbra Streisand) om met haar langs een aantal afnemers te gaan om zijn uitvindersproduct te tonen. Wat zij niet weet is dat hij aan het einde van de rit een ontmoeting heeft ingepland met haar grote jeugdliefde, een succesvolle zakenman. Dit voorspelbare niemendalletje valt van begin tot eind uit te tekenen, maar Rogen/Streisand zijn leuk als de tegenpolen die genetisch tot elkaar zijn veroordeeld. Al had de productie baat gehad bij iets meer en sterkere grappen.

For a change, Seth Rogen doesn't play the cuddly stoner in 'The Guilt Trip' (2012) and the bromance in question is more of a momance here. The character of Rogen goes on a road trip with his New York mom (Barbra Streisand) to visit a number of customers with her to show his invented product. What she does not know is that at the end of the ride he has scheduled a meeting with her great childhood sweetheart, a successful businessman. This predictable little thing can be drawn from start to finish, but Rogen/Streisand are fun as the opposites that are genetically doomed to each other. Although the production would have benefited from slightly more and stronger jokes.

Roger Thornhill

• 5594 messages

Ik begon hieraan vol ergernis : stel dat ik ècht zo'n bemoeizuchtige moeder zou hebben (zie ook Prime ), hoe krankzinnig zou ik dan wel niet worden? Ach, het is maar een komedie met uitvergrote personages waarvan het de bedoeling is dat je aan het lachen wordt gemaakt, maar mensen die zich in andermans leven wurmen raken bij mij altijd een gevoelige plek, ook al betreft het dan een komedie. Na verloop van tijd blijkt echter dat de beide hoofdrolspelers echt geweldig op elkaar reageren, dat Streisand haar onnadrukkelijke komische talent mag tentoonspreiden en dat de onderkoelde Rogen een veel acceptabeler mens neerzet dan zijn gebruikelijke feestbeest (de "aaibare stoner" zoals [user=72914]Donkerwoud[/user] het hierboven zo treffend formuleert), en met de mooie emotionele clou die in het huis van Streisands oude vlam wordt bereikt is ook niets mis. Zo denk ik al met al toch wel met veel plezier aan deze merkwaardige road movie terug, ook al is hij zeker niet vrij van cliché.

I started this with annoyance: suppose I really had such a meddling mother (see also Prime ), how insane would I then become? Well, it's just a comedy with exaggerated characters that are supposed to make you laugh, but people who squeeze into other people's lives always hit me a sensitive spot, even if it's a comedy. Over time, however, it turns out that the two protagonists react really great to each other, that Streisand is allowed to display her unequivocal comedic talent and that the hypothermic Rogen portrays a much more acceptable person than his usual party animal (the "cuddly stoner" like ). Donkerwoud puts it so aptly above), and there is nothing wrong with the beautiful emotional punch that is achieved in the house of Streisand's old flame. All in all, I think back to this remarkable road movie with great pleasure, even if it is certainly not free from cliché.

Sergio Leone

• 4028 messages

Vreselijk. Heel lamlendig filmpje met bitterweinig om het lijf. Best veel drama en "guilt" erin gepropt, maar echt niet goed uitgewerkt. Barba Streisand is vreselijk en Seth Rogen komt evenmin uit de verf. Als komedie totaal niet geslaagd en al zeker niet als drama. 1

Very lame movie with bitter little around the body. Quite a lot of drama and "guilt" crammed into it, but really not well developed. Barba Streisand is terrible and Seth Rogen is also not very good.

Not at all successful as a comedy and certainly not as a drama.

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The guilt trip.

2012 Directed by Anne Fletcher

Get ready for one mother of a road trip.

An inventor and his mom hit the road together so he can sell his latest invention.

Seth Rogen Barbra Streisand Yvonne Strahovski Colin Hanks Brett Cullen Adam Scott Ari Graynor Kathy Najimy Danny Pudi Casey Wilson Dale Dickey Michael Cassidy Brandon Keener Robert Curtis Brown Nora Dunn Miriam Margolyes Rose Abdoo Analeis Lorig Gabrielle Gumbs Rick Gonzalez Worth Howe Vicki Goldsmith Constance Esposito Creed Bratton Jeff Kober Tom Virtue

Director Director

Anne Fletcher

Producers Producers

Evan Goldberg John Goldwyn Lorne Michaels Erin Doyle James Weaver Hilary Marx Gretel Twombly

Writer Writer

Dan Fogelman

Casting Casting

Cathy Sandrich Gelfond Amanda Mackey

Editors Editors

Priscilla Nedd-Friendly Dana E. Glauberman

Cinematography Cinematography

Oliver Stapleton

Additional Directing Add. Directing

Darrin Prescott

Executive Producers Exec. Producers

Dan Fogelman Evan Goldberg Mary McLaglen Seth Rogen Barbra Streisand

Lighting Lighting

Production design production design.

Nelson Coates

Art Direction Art Direction

David Lazan

Set Decoration Set Decoration

Karen O'Hara

Special Effects Special Effects

Mark R. Byers

Visual Effects Visual Effects

Eric Mancha

Stunts Stunts

Debbie Evans Joanne Lamstein Chris Palermo Allan Padelford

Composer Composer

Christophe Beck

Sound Sound

Peter J. Devlin Scott Millan Greg P. Russell Karen Baker Landers Christopher Assells Dino DiMuro Chris Jargo Dan Hegeman Peter Staubli Karen Vassar Triest Scott Curtis Darrin Mann

Costume Design Costume Design

Danny Glicker

Makeup Makeup

Lisa Layman Amy Schmiederer Beth O'Rourke Julie Hewett

Hairstyling Hairstyling

Terry Baliel Katrina Chevalier Mary Ann Valdes

Paramount Skydance Media Michaels-Goldwyn

Releases by Date

19 dec 2012, 07 jan 2013, 24 jan 2013, 20 feb 2013, 22 feb 2013, 28 feb 2013, 01 mar 2013, 07 mar 2013, 05 apr 2013, 10 apr 2013, 11 apr 2013, 12 apr 2013, 13 apr 2013, 18 apr 2013, releases by country.

• Theatrical M
• Theatrical 0

Netherlands

• Theatrical 6
• Theatrical 11
• Theatrical 12
• Theatrical PG-13

95 mins   More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by aksel 4

This is a cute comforting movie and the reviews on this remind me most of the people on this website hate movies at this point but refuse to stop watching them because it’s their only personality trait. 

it’s not the best movie ever but ITS A LITTLE CUTE!!!

Review by lain ★★★★

WHY IS THE RATING SO LOW ON THIS???? THIS IS SO PURE???? I DONT TRUST ANY OF YALL ANYMORE

Review by Dylan ★★★

Guilt Trip is entertaining enough to keep you interested, but not engaging enough to keep your attention from wandering. It is a ferociously funny comedy that takes a lot of risks and connects just enough, and it's a step above the normal comedies thanks to its innovative idea and quartet of charming comedic star turns. The entire ensemble does an outstanding job with their roles, and they all carry the film with such a strong feeling of charisma and flattery. While the plot may be a little too conventional and the story may not be particularly memorable, it is nonetheless a family-friendly comedy with some belly laughs and a loving message that takes unexpected turns. In many ways, it exceeded my expectations, and I must say, I enjoyed it!

Review by Ben Peterson ★★★½

Road trip movies have to have an ending that makes the whole thing worth it and this one really, really does. A legit teary moment from a genuinely invested Rogen and Streisand, who are both great, caps this wholesome and funny movie off perfectly. I think this movie is just a splendid little yarn.

Review by indi ★★

fuckgin appalling but i really related to barbra streisand renouncing men bc they probably wouldn't let her keep eating m&m's in bed right before she went to sleep

Review by daril 🪷 ★★★

I am guilty of finding this film cute! I do not trust anyone who gave this a low rating

Review by Cristiano Bertoni ★★½

Pretty mediocre comedy, still fun in some points tho.

Review by Mario 🟠🍃🔵 ★★½

It was alright, but I probably should have watched Pineapple Express instead.

Review by 🎞️📼Spencer💿📺 ★★

Warning DO NOT  watch with a parent!

I can't comment much about this because every five minutes, my mother is asking me. Do I do that? Or When have I done that? 

My mom is a lovely lady but im glad there are no road trips for us.

Review by ᴬⁿᵗʰᵒⁿʸ ⛧ ★★

Probably the shortest I’ve ever seen Barbra’s nails. 🗺 

Review by 🌻 lindsay 🌻 ★★★★ 1

whole movie I was appalled he would talk to his mother like that leave her alone

Review by riki ★★★½

oh Barbara i love u be my second mother

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The Guilt Trip (film)

2012 american film / from wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, dear wikiwand ai, let's keep it short by simply answering these key questions:.

Can you list the top facts and stats about The Guilt Trip (film)?

Summarize this article for a 10 year old

The Guilt Trip is a 2012 American road comedy film directed by Anne Fletcher from a screenplay written by Dan Fogelman , starring Barbra Streisand and Seth Rogen , who both also served as executive producers on the film.

Andy Brewster, going on a cross-country trip to try and sell the non-toxic cleaning product he developed, invites his mother to join him as unbeknownst to her he has the ulterior motive for them to meet her first love who he's named after.

The film was released on December 19, 2012, received mixed reviews from critics, and grossed $41 million on a production budget of $40 million.

• Paramount Pictures

Summary An inventor and his mom hit the road together so he can sell his latest invention.

Directed By : Anne Fletcher

Written By : Dan Fogelman, Jason Conzelman

The Guilt Trip

Where to watch.

Barbra Streisand

Joyce brewster.

Andrew Brewster

Julene renee, k-mart receptionist, zabryna guevara, k-mart executive, robert curtis brown.

Kathy Najimy

Miriam Margolyes

Mature Singles Man

Vivian vanderwerd, mature singles woman, vicki goldsmith, young joyce, matthew levinson, toddler andy, joseph levinson, kevin o'keefe, budget car renter.

Rick Gonzalez

Jeff witzke, middlesex voice over.

Casey Wilson

OSH Executive

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The Guilt Trip

• Credits 
• Image gallery  [2]

All images are copyrighted by their respective copyright holders and/or producers/distributors.

• See all credits
• "No movie should credibly simulate the experience of being stuck in a car with Barbra Streisand for eight days. Not unless it's being billed as 'a spine-tingling tale of modern horror' (...) Rating: ★★ (out of four)"  Kyle Smith : New York Post
• "A timid, modestly pleasant time-passer distinguished mostly by its unexplored potential"  Andrew Barker : Variety
• "Eight days in a car with these two is like eight weeks with shingles"  Rex Reed : The New York Observer

All copyrighted material (movie posters, DVD covers, stills, trailers) and trademarks belong to their respective producers and/or distributors.

User history

THE GUILT TRIP

As inventor Andy Brewster is about to embark on the road trip of a lifetime, a quick stop at his mom’s house turns into an unexpected cross-country voyage with her along for the ride.

The Guilt Trip

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The Guilt Trip

• There are no inadequacies

"Barbra Streisand and Seth Rogen are the perfect comedy duo"* as they embark on one mother of a road trip! When Andy invites his mom on an 8-day, 3,000-mile journey across the country, the farther they go, the closer they get. *Jake Hamilton, FOX-TV

Tabloid Publisher Describes Deals to Buy Silence at Trump Trial

Lawyers for Donald J. Trump will continue questioning David Pecker, the former publisher of The National Enquirer, on Friday. He has described buying and burying stories that could have damaged Mr. Trump’s 2016 campaign.

• Share full article

Jesse McKinley and Kate Christobek

5 takeaways from David Pecker’s testimony.

The criminal trial of Donald Trump featured vivid testimony on Thursday about a plot to protect his first presidential campaign and the beginnings of a tough cross-examination of the prosecution’s initial witness, David Pecker.

In his third day of testimony, Mr. Pecker, the former publisher of The National Enquirer, described his involvement in the suppression of the stories of two women who claimed to have had sex with Mr. Trump: Karen McDougal, a Playboy model, and Stormy Daniels, the porn star whose 2016 hush-money payoff forms the basis of the prosecution’s case.

Mr. Trump, 77, is charged with falsifying 34 business records to cover up a $130,000 payment to Ms. Daniels, who has said they had a sexual encounter in 2006 and was shopping that story in the weeks before the 2016 presidential election. He has denied the charges and having sex with Ms. Daniels and Ms. McDougal; the former president could face probation or prison if convicted.

Here are five takeaways from Mr. Trump’s seventh day on trial:

Pecker teed up falsified records charges.

As part of a so-called catch-and-kill scheme, Mr. Pecker testified that his company, AMI, paid Ms. McDougal $150,000 to purchase her story, with no intention of publishing anything about an affair with Mr. Trump.

But Mr. Pecker expected repayment. He said he asked Michael D. Cohen, who was Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer, who would handle the reimbursement, and Mr. Cohen responded, “The boss will take care of it.”

Because Mr. Pecker had such a hard time getting Mr. Trump to pay up, he was unwilling to buy a third story: Ms. Daniels’s account of sex with Mr. Trump.

“I am not a bank,” Mr. Pecker recalled saying.

Mr. Pecker suggested that Mr. Cohen buy Ms. Daniels's story instead, leading to the hush-money deal, repayments and records at issue in this trial.

The Links Between Trump and 3 Hush-Money Deals

Here’s how key figures involved in making hush-money payoffs on behalf of Donald J. Trump are connected.

Prosecutors painted a picture of election interference.

The prosecution’s discussion of the deal with Ms. McDougal — brokered in summer 2016 — served another purpose: trying to demonstrate that the payment was part of a scheme to influence that year’s election.

Mr. Pecker said that Ms. McDougal’s payment was disguised as a contract for services, to avoid violating campaign finance laws.

“I wanted to protect my company, I wanted to protect myself and I wanted also to protect Donald Trump,” Mr. Pecker said.

Mr. Pecker was also asked whether he believed Mr. Trump was concerned that his wife or family would find out about the affairs. But Mr. Pecker suggested that Mr. Trump’s concerns were electoral, not personal.

Trump worried about Ms. McDougal, even after his election.

Mr. Pecker told of least two instances in which Mr. Trump inquired about Ms. McDougal, referring to her at a Trump Tower meeting before he took office as “our girl.” He also asked about her during a meeting with Mr. Pecker at the White House, the publisher said.

At the Trump Tower meeting, which also included notables like James Comey, then the F.B.I. director, and Reince Priebus, who was chairman of the Republican National Committee, Mr. Pecker reassured Mr. Trump that everything was fine.

Mr. Trump then told the group that Mr. Pecker probably “knows more than anyone else in this room.”

“It was a joke,” Mr. Pecker testified, adding, “They didn’t laugh.”

Pecker did a lot for Trump, who could be hard to please.

Mr. Pecker said on Tuesday he had agreed to be the “eyes and ears” of the Trump campaign and used AMI to deal with threats to Mr. Trump’s reputation.

After the “Access Hollywood” tape was revealed in October 2016, featuring Mr. Trump’s boasts about groping women, one of Mr. Pecker’s editors scrubbed an AMI publication’s website of a 2008 article describing Mr. Trump as a “playboy man.”

Despite that, Mr. Trump often made his displeasure known, Mr. Pecker testified, either through Mr. Cohen or in phone calls. Mr. Pecker variously described Mr. Trump as becoming “very angry” and “very aggravated.”

Still, Mr. Pecker said he felt no ill will. “I felt that Donald Trump was my mentor,” Mr. Pecker said, adding, “I still consider him a friend.”

Cross-examination continues Friday. More names may drop.

Mr. Trump’s lawyers, led by Emil Bove, started their cross-examination trying to show that such deals were “standard operating procedure” in the supermarket tabloid business and that the magazines published only about half of the stories they bought.

That offered the first intimation of the defense strategy: presenting as commonplace actions that the prosecutors have deemed criminal. The cross-examination also showed the ugly side of the tabloid trade, including the admission that Mr. Pecker’s magazines would buy stories as leverage against celebrities.

Many famous names were mentioned, including that of Arnold Schwarzenegger, the movie star-turned-Republican politician. Mr. Pecker described a 2002 meeting in which Mr. Schwarzenegger asked Mr. Pecker not to run negative stories about him before his run for governor of California. It worked: the star of “The Terminator” was elected and served from 2003 until 2011.

The name-dropping may well continue when cross-examination continues Friday.

Michael Gold

As he left the courtroom, Trump did not answer reporters’ questions about whether he considered David Pecker or Boris Epshteyn, who was in the courtroom today, to be his friends. Earlier today, he called Pecker a “nice guy.”

Perhaps seeking to avoid violating his gag order, Trump said that today’s proceedings were “breathtaking” and described the testimony as “amazing.” Then he immediately pivoted to his campaign talking points on the economy and the ongoing protests over the war in Gaza.

Jonah Bromwich

Emil Bove, Trump's lawyer, spent the last part of his cross-examination pressing David Pecker on what seems to be an inconsistency about whether Hope Hicks was at the 2015 Trump Tower meeting, where Pecker first agreed to suppress stories on Trump’s behalf. Bove's questioning suggested that Pecker told federal prosecutors that Hicks was not at the meeting, and told state prosecutors that she was.

Prosecutors objected to that line of questioning, and Justice Merchan appears to agree with them: Joshua Steinglass, a prosecutor, says that Hicks was simply not mentioned in the 2018 meeting with federal prosecutors and thus there was no inconsistency in Pecker’s story, as Bove was suggesting. “It’s misleading and we’re going to correct this tomorrow,”Justice Merchan says, adopting a scolding tone with Bove for the first time.

Jesse McKinley

After the jury leaves, Justice Merchan expresses frustration with Bove. “I don’t think you’re responding to what I’m saying,” the judge tells him.

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And we’re stopping for the day. Pecker will be back tomorrow for his fourth day on the stand.

Maggie Haberman

Defense lawyers will continue their cross-examination in the morning.

Emil Bove’s cross-examination of David Pecker, which began with a seamless and polished line of questioning, has gotten bogged down a bit as the afternoon draws towards its conclusion, with several sidebars interupting the flow.

Emil Bove, handling Trump’s cross-examination, just pushed David Pecker on a couple of inconsistencies involving dates. It was an aggressive tack that did not seem to ruffle Pecker. Bove softens a bit.

Kate Christobek

Bove is walking a fine line with some of these questions about Pecker's memory. He initially pushed Pecker harder about a specific detail, but — seemingly realizing the optics of aggressively cross-examining a man in his early 70s — he pulled back.

A lot of big names have come up in court today: Arnold Schwarzenegger, John F. Kennedy Jr. — who was at a magazine party Pecker and Trump attended — and now Tiger Woods have all been mentioned. So have the Republican notables who attended that Trump Tower meeting, including Reince Priebus, James Comey and Mike Pompeo.

David Pecker is testifying that he suppressed stories on behalf of Ari and Rahm Emanuel. Rahm Emanuel, of course, is a well-known Democrat, former mayor of Chicago, White House chief of staff to Barack Obama and currently, the U.S. ambassador to Japan.

Moments later, David Pecker even mentions the actor Mark Wahlberg in passing. The testimony in court today has been like a tabloid come to life.

Bove is doing a very effective cross here.

Michael Rothfeld

Bove’s reference to Tiger Woods may relate to an episode in which Pecker traded dirt about one of the women the golfer had an affair with for an exclusive interview with Woods in one of his magazines, Men’s Fitness, in 2007.

Emil Bove is now walking David Pecker through how he engaged in very similar behavior to help Arnold Schwarzenegger’s campaign for governor of California, orchestrating catch-and-kill deals to protect him.

Emil Bove is doing something that trial lawyers often do: He is dropping a single phrase into his questions over and over again to try to plant it in jurors’ minds. The phrase he’s using is “standard operating procedure.” He’s said it at least three times so far. The reason, as we’ve said, is to suggest that Pecker’s relationship with Trump was totally standard, and thus, not criminal.

Another self-acknowledged practitioner of repetition to plant ideas into people’s minds is Donald Trump.

Some of the jurors are watching Bove, going back and forth between him and Pecker.

The jurors seem engaged as Emil Bove, the defense lawyer, presses Pecker. He just emphasized his authority for the panel by catching Pecker in a small error. Then he had Pecker note that he had given Trump a heads up about negative stories for years — not just during the election. Bove’s tone has changed: He’s now being kinder, gentler, seeking to lure Pecker in.

Bove is getting Pecker to say that he had never heard the phrase “catch and kill” until he first heard it from a prosecutor. The implication, again, is this wasn’t a practice engaged in specifically to benefit Trump.

This is also part of the Trump ethos: that everything and everyone have some dirt on their shoes. No one is morally superior.

Matthew Haag

To catch you up, prosecutors finished their questioning of David Pecker, the former publisher of The National Enquirer, on Thursday afternoon, ending with him discussing his personal relationship with Trump. Pecker said he had not talked to Trump since 2019 but still considered him a friend, as he testified against him at his criminal trial. Emil Bove, one of Trump's lawyers, then started to cross-examine Pecker.

What Emil Bove is doing does not take away from the possibility that, as prosecutors claim, Trump participated in a conspiracy with Pecker and Cohen. But he's doing a nice job here of blurring the lines between right and wrong, raising doubts in the minds of jurors.

Muddying the waters — arguing that whatever he’s doing is either standard practice generally, or something that other people are actually engaging in — is a Trump specialty, legally and in public relations.

In an admission of the ugly side of the tabloid trade, Pecker says that his magazines would buy negative stories as leverage against celebrities to coerce them into providing interviews and other access.

This is going to be the heart of an argument by the defense: that this wasn’t criminal, and wasn’t a conspiracy related to Trump.

Emil Bove, the defense lawyer, is questioning David Pecker about his history of “checkbook journalism,” and drawing out that his magazines only published about half of the stories that they bought.

Bove is so far smooth as he is trying to present what took place with McDougal as “standard operating procedure” under Pecker.

Emil Bove, the Trump lawyer cross-examining Pecker, is the newest addition to Trump’s trial team. He previously served as a federal prosecutor in New York.

His questioning will be jurors' first chance to see the defense lawyers in action during witness testimony. Bove is smooth and calm in front of the judge, but he’s asserting a more aggressive posture with Pecker, asking him rat-a-tat questions about how The Enquirer's parent company, A.M.I., paid its sources. I believe Bove is seeking to show that the catch-and-kill deals were not standalone examples of a shady conspiracy, but rather standard practice at the publisher.

One notable point about the end of prosecutors’ questioning of Pecker was that they hammered home the idea that he isn’t out to get Trump. That is how the defense plans to frame Michael Cohen's actions — as vindictive.

That was quite a way to end the direct questioning. Pecker had only just begun to describe the hush-money payment made to Stormy Daniels. That means that other witnesses, likely including Michael Cohen, will be left to give most of the testimony about it. The lack of testimony from Pecker about Daniels also makes me wonder if Daniels herself might testify: We still don’t know.

The prosecution is done questioning David Pecker. He will be cross-examined by Trump's defense team next.

The lawyer Emil Bove will handle the cross-examination for Trump’s defense.

He says that he hasn't spoken to Trump since 2019. “Even though we haven't spoken, I still consider him a friend,” Pecker adds, as he testifies against Trump at his criminal trial.

Joshua Steinglass, the prosecutor, asks David Pecker if he has any bad feelings or ill will toward Trump. “On the contrary,” Pecker responds, adding: “I felt that Donald Trump was my mentor. He helped me throughout my career.” Pecker then tells a story in which an editor on his staff inhaled anthrax after the Sept. 11 attacks and died. Pecker says he was in a very difficult place from a business and personal standpoint, and that Trump was the first to call him when he needed help.

Prosecutors are now asking David Pecker to walk through his non-prosecution agreement in connection with the 2018 federal investigation into the actions of Michael Cohen and American Media Inc., The National Enquirer's parent company.

Justice Merchan tells the jury that this is being offered to provide context and to help them assess Pecker’s credibility. He adds that this is not evidence of the defendant’s guilt.

Pecker is still reading the non-prosecution agreement into the record. It is soporific.

Trump is showing the most emotion he has during the trial so far as David Pecker discusses a non-prosecution agreement with the Manhattan district attorney's office. He has shaken his head multiple times, whispered to his lawyer and tightly folded his arms over his chest.

David Pecker recounted a Trump Tower meeting where the president-elect offered his thanks.

David Pecker, the former publisher of The National Enquirer, painted a remarkable scene for jurors at Donald J. Trump’s criminal trial Thursday, describing a meeting he attended at the soon-to-be president’s office with people who would hold key roles in his administration.

Mr. Pecker, who had helped Mr. Trump suppress damaging stories during the campaign, said he was outside Trump Tower in January 2017 when Mr. Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, tapped him on the shoulder and said, “I’ll get you upstairs.”

When he walked into Mr. Trump’s office, he saw Sean Spicer, Reince Priebus, Mike Pompeo and James Comey. Mr. Comey was the director of the F.B.I. at the time and would later publicly turn against Mr. Trump. Mr. Priebus was the chairman of the Republican National Committee and soon to be Mr. Trump’s chief of staff. Mr. Spicer would become White House press secretary, and Mr. Pompeo would be director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

“Trump introduced me to each of them,” Mr. Pecker testified. “He said, ‘Here is David Pecker. He is the publisher of The National Enquirer.”

Mr. Trump, in the presence of the F.B.I. director and the incoming C.I.A. director, then added slyly that Mr. Pecker probably “knows more than anyone else in this room.”

“It was a joke,” Mr. Pecker testified. “Unfortunately, they didn’t laugh.”

But in the courtroom, Mr. Trump chuckled. His lawyer, Todd Blanche, guffawed.

Mr. Pecker said that at the same meeting, Mr. Trump thanked him for purchasing stories for him during the campaign. The president-elect also inquired about Karen McDougal, the former Playboy model whose story of an affair Mr. Pecker’s company had suppressed in exchange for $150,000.

“How’s our girl?” Mr. Pecker said Mr. Trump had asked, to which he replied: “She’s cool. She’s very quiet. No issues.”

It is unclear whether the other men heard those remarks.

In his testimony, Mr. Pecker also spoke of an earlier postelection meeting at Trump Tower, in December 2016. Michael D. Cohen, Mr. Trump’s lawyer and fixer, asked him to persuade Mr. Trump to pay out his holiday bonus, Mr. Pecker said. He also testified that Mr. Cohen had told him he had not yet been repaid for the $130,000 he had spent on a hush-money deal with a porn star, Stormy Daniels.

Mr. Pecker told the jury that he did raise the issue of a bonus for Mr. Cohen with Mr. Trump. “He’s been working very hard, from my perspective, and I believe that he would throw himself under a bus for you,” Mr. Pecker said he had told Mr. Trump.

The publisher recalled that Mr. Trump replied that Mr. Cohen had plenty of money; he owned 50 taxi medallions, valuable licenses to operate a cab in New York City, as well as apartments in Trump buildings. Still, Mr. Pecker testified, Mr. Trump said he would take care of the bonus.

Pecker says he and others around Trump feared his anger.

A recurring theme in the testimony of David Pecker, the former publisher of The National Enquirer, has been how people around Donald J. Trump lived in fear of his wrath.

At least three times while testifying in Mr. Trump’s criminal trial on Thursday, Mr. Pecker described Michael D. Cohen, the former president’s fixer and lawyer, as warning him that “the boss” — Mr. Trump — would be angry if Mr. Pecker did not follow through with whatever had been asked of him in that moment.

Notably, Mr. Pecker kept his eyes locked on exhibits and prosecutors while discussing Mr. Trump’s temper, not once glancing over at the former president in the courtroom. Mr. Trump appeared subdued during Mr. Pecker’s testimony, as he has for most of the trial, but at one point, he motioned to the lawyers next to him and crossed his arms over his chest.

Mr. Pecker and Mr. Cohen were in frequent contact during the 2016 presidential campaign, strategizing over how to bury threatening news about Mr. Trump before the November election. In urging Mr. Pecker to kill harmful stories, Mr. Cohen often invoked Mr. Trump’s potential anger as a reason for Mr. Pecker to do what he asked.

Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model who said she had an affair with Mr. Trump, received $150,000 from American Media Inc., The Enquirer’s parent company. When Mr. Pecker voiced concerns about the potentially unlawful implications of the deal, Mr. Cohen had a warning.

“The boss is going to be very angry at you,” Mr. Cohen told Mr. Pecker, he testified Thursday.

Mr. Pecker also testified about warning Mr. Cohen that he, too, needed to avoid Mr. Trump’s temper. Mr. Pecker said he did not want to pay $120,000 that Stormy Daniels, a porn star, had asked for to keep quiet about the tryst she said she had with Mr. Trump. But Mr. Pecker urged Mr. Cohen to make a deal.

“If you don’t, and it gets out, I believe the boss is going to be very angry with you,” he said he told Mr. Cohen.

Stormy Daniels’s attempt to sell her story began the road to the trial.

Stormy Daniels tried to benefit from Donald J. Trump’s political momentum in early 2016, setting off the saga that ultimately resulted in his criminal trial.

Her agent reached out to Dylan Howard, editor of The National Enquirer, and editorial chiefs at other publications, seeking about $200,000 to tell her story of having sex with Mr. Trump a decade before when he was at a golf tournament in Lake Tahoe, Nev.

Ms. Daniels had no takers. Mr. Howard thought her story had little value because it had already been written about on a gossip site in 2011. At the time, she had publicly denied the encounter.

A month before the presidential election, her story’s value suddenly increased. On Oct. 7, 2016, The Washington Post published a recording of Mr. Trump on the set of “Access Hollywood” talking about groping women.

The ensuing uproar revived Ms. Daniels’s negotiations with The Enquirer. Her agent negotiated a price of $120,000 with Mr. Howard, but Mr. Pecker nixed the deal, unwilling to spend more after having already paid a Playboy model to bury her story of an affair with Mr. Trump in what prosecutors have called a “catch-and-kill” scheme to aid Mr. Trump’s candidacy.

“We can’t pay 120k,” Mr. Pecker texted Mr. Howard. They agreed that Michael Cohen, Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer and fixer, would have to handle the problem.

“Spoke to MC. All sorted,” Mr. Howard later texted Mr. Pecker. “No fingerprints.”

Mr. Cohen had been in London visiting his daughter, who was studying abroad, when the “Access Hollywood” recording hit. He had gotten on a three-way call with Mr. Trump and Hope Hicks, the campaign’s press secretary, and then spoke to Ms. Hicks alone to discuss damage control.

Joshua Steinglass, a prosecutor for Alvin L. Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, said in court last week that after the recording emerged, Mr. Trump was desperate to “lock down the Stormy Daniels story” and prevent more damage.

On Oct. 10, Mr. Cohen began to negotiate a price with Keith Davidson, the lawyer representing Ms. Daniels, settling on $130,000. A nondisclosure agreement identified Ms. Daniels by the pseudonym Peggy Peterson, or “PP,” and Mr. Trump as David Dennison, or “DD.”

But Mr. Cohen delayed paying for weeks, and Ms. Daniels began contacting news outlets again.

With the election rapidly approaching, Mr. Cohen drew the money from his own home equity line of credit and wired it to Ms. Daniels’s lawyer through a shell company on Oct. 27.

Her silence was assured.

Prosecutors say Trump keeps breaking gag order, with four new violations.

Prosecutors on Thursday accused former President Donald J. Trump of violating a gag order four additional times, saying that he continues to defy the judge’s directions not to attack witnesses, prosecutors and jurors in his hush-money trial.

“He’s doing what the order tells him not to do,” said Christopher Conroy, a prosecutor for the Manhattan district attorney.

As Mr. Conroy laid out what he said were violations, Mr. Trump whispered to his lawyer Todd Blanche and frowned. After they spoke, Mr. Blanche rubbed his face several times.

With the latest allegations, prosecutors now say that Mr. Trump has violated the gag order 15 times in less than two weeks. The judge in the case, Juan M. Merchan, is expected to rule soon on earlier violations and could hold the former president in contempt or issue a fine.

The new instances include two separate attacks on his former personal lawyer and fixer, Michael D. Cohen, once during a recent television interview and another while speaking to reporters in the hallway outside the Lower Manhattan courtroom. Another violation, prosecutors said, stemmed from a recent interview in which Mr. Trump referred to the jury as “95 percent Democrats.”

The fourth example, prosecutors said, took place before the trial began on Thursday, at a campaign stop with construction workers in Manhattan . There, Mr. Trump called David Pecker, the former National Enquirer publisher who took the witness stand for a third time on Thursday, “a nice guy.”

Prosecutors accused Mr. Trump of sending a message to Mr. Pecker and other witnesses to be “nice,” or get attacked. They said they would submit the additional violations to the court.

Justice Merchan imposed the gag order on Mr. Trump in late March, barring him from making public statements about any witnesses, prosecutors, jurors or court staff, as well as their families. But within a week, Mr. Trump found a loophole in the order and repeatedly attacked the judge’s daughter, a Democratic political consultant.

In a hearing earlier this week on the 10 previous violations, lawyers for Mr. Trump argued that the former president had been exercising his right to respond to attacks. Prosecutors noted that the gag order did not include exceptions for Mr. Trump to respond to those who criticize him.

How a Playboy model’s story of an affair with Trump became a commodity.

In the middle of the 2016 presidential campaign, Donald J. Trump called David Pecker, publisher of The National Enquirer. The candidate was seeking advice about a former Playboy model who was trying to sell her story of an affair with him, Mr. Pecker told jurors in Mr. Trump’s Manhattan criminal trial.

Mr. Pecker suggested a way to silence the model, Karen McDougal. “I think that the story should be purchased,” he said he told Mr. Trump. “And I believe that you should buy it.”

The episode involving Ms. McDougal led to the second of three hush-money deals that prosecutors say Mr. Trump and his allies arranged during the 2016 election to suppress negative news. Mr. Pecker was involved in all of them, including the final deal in which Mr. Trump’s lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, paid $130,000 to Stormy Daniels, a former porn star.

Mr. Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up the Daniels payment as part of an effort to influence the election. It is the first criminal prosecution of an American president. Mr. Pecker, the trial’s first witness, began testifying about Ms. McDougal on Tuesday before the trial’s midweek break and continued Thursday.

The Enquirer’s parent company, American Media Inc., ended up paying $150,000 to buy the rights to her story and then bury it, a tactic known as “catch and kill.” In a deal to avoid federal prosecution, the company later admitted that it had illegally tried to influence the election.

Ms. McDougal had been Playboy’s Playmate of the Year for 1998. She has said she met Mr. Trump at the Playboy Mansion in June 2006, and they began a 10-month affair.

As Mr. Trump’s campaign gained steam, Ms. McDougal, living in Arizona, saw a chance to revive a flagging modeling career. In June 2016, she hired a lawyer to represent her in the sale of her story. The lawyer contacted Dylan Howard, The Enquirer’s editor, who alerted Mr. Pecker.

At the outset of the campaign, Mr. Pecker, Mr. Cohen and Mr. Trump had met at Trump Tower to discuss helping Mr. Trump in part by identifying and burying dirt about him. Mr. Pecker said he had promised to be the campaign’s “eyes and ears.”

After learning about Ms. McDougal’s claims, he called Mr. Cohen, who insisted her story was untrue. But Mr. Pecker suggested vetting it, and Mr. Cohen agreed, the publisher testified. Mr. Pecker sent his editor to meet with Ms. McDougal and her lawyer in Los Angeles.

Mr. Cohen was anxious for updates and asked Mr. Pecker to communicate via an encrypted messaging app to ensure secrecy.

“I had multiple calls every single day: ‘When is he going? When is he going to know? Is it done yet?’” Mr. Pecker testified. He added that he told Mr. Cohen to relax.

At their meeting, Mr. Howard debriefed Ms. McDougal, who now expressed reservations about coming forward and had no hard documentation of an affair. Mr. Pecker, in his testimony Thursday, recalled that Ms. McDougal had “said she didn’t want to be the next Monica Lewinsky.”

In a call after the meeting, he testified, Mr. Cohen denied an affair had taken place but said he would look into it.

The Enquirer decided not to purchase her story — for the moment.

That changed. Mr. Trump called Mr. Pecker for advice, the publisher testified, but brushed off Mr. Pecker’s suggestion that he buy her story himself.

“I don’t buy stories,” Mr. Trump said, the publisher recounted, adding, “Any time you do anything like this, it always gets out.” Mr. Trump also described Ms. McDougal as “a nice girl,” suggesting he actually knew her, Mr. Pecker said Thursday.

Mr. Pecker recalled for the jury discussions with Mr. Cohen about who would pay Ms. McDougal for the rights to her story. At first, Mr. Cohen promised that Mr. Trump would pay, but then asked Mr. Pecker to do so, promising that he would later be made whole, the publisher said.

After conversations Ms. McDougal had started with ABC News about telling her story on air grew serious, American Media swooped in with an offer. His company agreed in early August 2016 to pay Ms. McDougal $150,000 for the rights.

Asked by prosecutor Joshua Steinglass on Thursday whether The Enquirer ever intended to publish Ms. McDougal’s story, Mr. Pecker answered, “No, we did not.”

But Mr. Pecker said that he wanted to be careful not to violate campaign finance law, after an experience years earlier when he had suppressed stories about Arnold Schwarzenegger during his successful run for California governor.

So Mr. Pecker was careful to ensure that the McDougal deal included services that she would perform for the company, he said. That was meant to camouflage its purpose. The contract guaranteed that American Media would put her on two magazine covers and have the right to publish her fitness columns.

Despite Mr. Pecker’s assertions that he had structured the deal to avoid violating campaign finance law, his company later admitted doing just that in a 2018 nonprosecution agreement with federal prosecutors.

After Ms. McDougal was paid, Mr. Cohen tried to fulfill his promise to repay the cost of the deal, negotiating for Mr. Trump to use shell companies to buy the rights to her story from Mr. Pecker’s company. Mr. Cohen secretly taped Mr. Trump talking about that prospect.

“So what do we got to pay for this? One-fifty?” Mr. Trump asked on the recording. (The actual price would have been $125,000, reduced by the estimated value of the columns and magazine covers Ms. McDougal would do.)

One of Mr. Pecker’s lawyers advised against selling the rights to Mr. Trump, and the deal never went through.

The failure to reimburse him is ultimately what led Mr. Pecker to refuse in the weeks after to make another hush-money payment, to the porn star Stormy Daniels — pushing Mr. Cohen to do so himself.

Nate Schweber

A protest materializes as Trump has cases heard in two courts.

Dozens of protesters calling for the justice system to punish Donald J. Trump briefly blocked traffic Thursday morning on several streets near the Lower Manhattan courthouse where he is facing his first criminal trial.

The protest was small by New York standards, but still the largest and most organized that has been seen at Mr. Trump’s trial so far. Most days, only a handful of aggrieved citizens have arrived to protest in support of or against the former president, despite his calls for his supporters to turn out in great numbers .

The demonstrators held signs that read “No Immunity for Traitors,” “Slept with a Porn Star, Screwed the voters,” and “Election Interference is a Crime.”

Jamie Bauer, 65, a retired New York City Transit employee who lives in Manhattan, said she took to the streets because of the trial and a simultaneous hearing in the U.S. Supreme Court. In that hearing, the justices will consider Mr. Trump’s sweeping claims that he is immune from prosecution on charges that he tried to subvert the 2020 presidential election.

“Presidents are not kings,” Ms. Bauer said.

Kim Russell, 55, of Brooklyn, said demonstrators had planned for a month to be in Washington for the hearing on Thursday. Mr. Trump’s appearance at his criminal trial in New York forced them to improvise.

“We got to scramble, we got to be in both places,” Ms. Russell said.

She added that she was pleased with the turnout, and that Mr. Trump’s multiple cases were moving forward. “They can’t delay justice,” she said.

Trump makes a campaign stop in Manhattan before his trial resumes.

Hours before he was set to return to the courthouse for his criminal trial in Manhattan, former President Donald J. Trump started Thursday morning by visiting a construction site in a campaign stop that exemplified the balancing act required for a candidate who is also a criminal defendant.

In the shadow of what will eventually be the 70-story headquarters of one of the nation’s biggest banks, Mr. Trump shook hands with union workers in a visit meant to highlight his support from working-class voters and draw attention to his criticism of President Biden’s economic policies.

His warm reception — a cheering crowd of roughly 100 people gathered behind him, chanting “we want Trump” — marked a stark contrast from the sober environment of the courthouse where Mr. Trump has spent most weekdays since his trial began last week, and where his comments have largely been limited to addressing reporters in the hallway during breaks.

Mr. Trump has not held a rally since just before the trial began, in part because a planned event in North Carolina last weekend was canceled because of weather. But his visit to the construction site typifies how his campaign is using retail stops in New York, a left-leaning state not expected to be in play in November, to help broadcast his national message.

“I have a lot of support here,” Mr. Trump said, as roughly two dozen workers clambered up scaffolding and equipment to catch a glimpse of him. Among those in the crowd were members of the Teamsters union, whose endorsement Mr. Trump has been courting.

The trip to the construction site kicks off what will be a significant day in Mr. Trump’s legal battles. In Manhattan, where Mr. Trump is accused of falsifying business records, David Pecker, the former publisher of The National Enquirer, is expected to return to the stand and detail the hush-money payment at the center of his case. Asked by reporters, Mr. Trump said that Mr. Pecker had been “very nice” and called him a “nice guy.”

In Washington, the Supreme Court will consider Mr. Trump’s argument that he is immune from prosecution on federal charges that he plotted to subvert the 2020 election. Mr. Trump, who will likely be in the Manhattan courtroom during the oral arguments before the Supreme Court, repeated an argument he has been making for months that “a president has to have immunity, otherwise you just have a ceremonial president.”

Mr. Trump’s appeal to working-class voters was key to his victory in 2016, and as he tries to return to the White House, he has been eager to win the support of rank-and-file union members and to drive a wedge between them and labor leaders who have long favored Democrats.

In January, Mr. Trump met with the Teamsters union’s executive board and said he believed he had a “good shot” at securing the influential union’s endorsement. The union endorsed Mr. Biden in 2020, and its leaders met with the president last month.

Mr. Biden has for years touted his allegiance to unions. On Wednesday he received the endorsement of the North America’s Building Trades Unions, an umbrella group whose leaders pointed to Mr. Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure package.

Jason Miller, a senior Trump campaign adviser, said that Thursday’s visit had been “on the books for some time” and was part of the campaign’s larger strategy to contend with the scheduling challenges posed by the Manhattan trial.

“Since the Biden Trials are an attempt to keep us off the campaign trail, we’ll bring the campaign trail to us,” he said. Mr. Trump has said without citing evidence that the charges are part of an “election interference” scheme orchestrated by Mr. Biden.

Jonah E. Bromwich and Ben Protess

Pecker is expected to testify again on Friday. Here’s the latest.

Lawyers for Donald J. Trump took their first crack at a key witness in his criminal case, the former publisher of The National Enquirer, who had described helping bury scandalous stories about Mr. Trump before the 2016 election.

The witness, David Pecker , spent more than five hours on the stand Thursday, his third day of testimony in the first criminal trial of a former American president. He is expected to return to the stand on Friday.

For more than two days, prosecutors questioned Mr. Pecker about what they say was a conspiracy with Mr. Trump and his longtime lawyer and fixer, Michael D. Cohen , to aid Mr. Trump’s bid for the presidency by suppressing negative stories about him.

But under questioning from a lawyer for Mr. Trump, the tabloid publisher said that it was typical for his publication to buy stories as leverage for access and interviews with celebrities — and he admitted giving Mr. Trump a heads up about negative stories long before he ran for president.

Much of Mr. Pecker’s testimony has described how his publication bought and buried two salacious stories on Mr. Trump’s behalf, including a Playboy model’s account of a sexual relationship with him.

He described buying off the model, Karen McDougal , for $150,000 and disguising the payment as a deal for other services, effectively concealing a donation to Mr. Trump’s campaign. He acknowledged that this type of arrangement — in which a corporation was spending money to influence the election — was unlawful.

The testimony about Ms. McDougal was important for the prosecution’s argument that Mr. Trump was seeking to win the election through illegal means.

“We didn’t want the story to embarrass Mr. Trump or embarrass or hurt the campaign,” Mr. Pecker testified. Then, after the election, Mr. Trump offered his thanks for keeping the story quiet, including in a meeting at Trump Tower before the inauguration where he was introduced to future White House officials.

On the stand, Mr. Pecker also described learning in October 2016 — just weeks before the election — that a porn star, Stormy Daniels, was shopping her account of a sexual encounter with Mr. Trump a decade earlier. Mr. Cohen subsequently paid her $130,000 to keep quiet.

Mr. Pecker testified that Mr. Cohen complained about how slowly Mr. Trump was reimbursing him. That reimbursement is at the heart of the 34 felony counts the former president has been charged with.

Here’s what else to know about the trial:

The Manhattan district attorney’s office has accused Mr. Trump of falsifying business records when reimbursing Mr. Cohen for the payment. Mr. Trump denies that he and Ms. Daniels had sex and has said he did nothing wrong. If convicted, he could receive probation, or up to four years in prison.

This may be the only trial Mr. Trump faces before Election Day. Three other criminal cases are delayed, including one in Washington, where he is accused of plotting to overturn his 2020 election loss. On Thursday, the Supreme Court heard arguments over whether Mr. Trump is immune from prosecution for acts he committed while president. The court’s conservative majority seemed poised to narrow the scope of the case , which could make it hard to conduct the trial before the 2024 election.

Mr. Trump has injected an element of menace in his Manhattan case, attacking both witnesses and the jury, which prosecutors say could put them in danger. The prosecution said Thursday that Mr. Trump had violated a gag order in the case four more times , bringing the total alleged violations to 15. They have asked the judge presiding over the trial, Juan M. Merchan, to hold Mr. Trump in contempt, but he has not yet ruled on the matter.

Matthew Haag and Michael Rothfeld

This is how The National Enquirer quashed a doorman’s Trump tip.

David Pecker, the former publisher of The National Enquirer, revealed during Donald J. Trump’s criminal trial on Tuesday how a team of reporters chased down a potentially explosive news tip called into the publication in 2015 that evolved into a catch-and-kill deal.

Dino Sajudin, a former doorman at a Manhattan building managed by the Trump Organization, called the tabloid’s tip line late in 2015 and said he had overheard other employees claiming that Mr. Trump had fathered a child out of wedlock with a woman who previously worked for him.

While the claim appeared to be false, the allegation could have damaged Mr. Trump during the campaign if it ever became public, Mr. Pecker testified in Manhattan Criminal Court on Tuesday.

“I made the decision to buy the story because of the potential embarrassment it would have to the campaign and Mr. Trump,” Mr. Pecker said, adding that it was important to have it “removed from the market.”

The Enquirer initially reached a deal with Mr. Sajudin that would pay him $30,000 if the tip turned into a story. A contract with Mr. Sajudin was shown to the jury on Tuesday, featuring the words “Donald Trump’s illegitimate child.”

Mr. Pecker did not immediately alert Mr. Trump or his longtime fixer, Michael D. Cohen, about the tip, but instead dispatched a team of reporters to investigate the claim. They returned saying that it appeared totally false, in part because the child strongly resembled the man she knew as her father, a Trump Organization driver.

Mr. Cohen eventually heard about the allegation and called the tabloid’s editor, angry that its reporters would even consider the claim had merit. Mr. Pecker testified that Mr. Cohen also called him to say that Mr. Trump had offered to take a DNA test and could not be the child’s father.

The original deal with Mr. Sajudin was nonetheless amended to pay him the $30,000 whether the story was published or not, and adding a confidentiality provision requiring him to pay the publisher $1 million if he disclosed the tip elsewhere.

According to Mr. Pecker, Mr. Cohen told him that “the boss would be very pleased.”

Mr. Sajudin was released from the confidentiality agreement in December 2016, a month after Mr. Trump won the election, which prosecutors say reveals the deal’s true objective.

Five takeaways from the sixth day of Trump’s criminal trial.

Tuesday’s session of Donald J. Trump’s criminal trial began with a heated clash between Justice Juan M. Merchan and Mr. Trump’s lead lawyer over a gag order . It ended with an insider’s look into a tabloid newspaper practice known as “catch and kill.”

Prosecutors said that Mr. Trump had “willfully and blatantly” violated a gag order barring him from attacking jurors and witnesses, among others. They said he had done so in comments outside the courtroom and online and should be found in contempt of court.

Mr. Trump’s top lawyer said in response that Mr. Trump was simply defending himself from political attacks. Justice Merchan did not rule, but he scolded the lawyer, Todd Blanche, saying, “you’re losing all credibility with the court.”

A former ally of Mr. Trump, David Pecker, the ex-publisher of The National Enquirer, later testified to buying and burying unflattering stories about Mr. Trump during his 2016 run for president, an arrangement he called “highly, highly confidential.”

Mr. Trump, 77, faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to hide a payment to a porn star, Stormy Daniels, made to cover up a sex scandal that threatened to derail his campaign. Ms. Daniels, who may testify, has said that she and Mr. Trump had a brief sexual encounter in 2006, something the former president denies.

Mr. Trump has pleaded not guilty. If convicted, the former president — and presumptive Republican nominee — could face probation or up to four years in prison.

Here are five takeaways from Mr. Trump’s sixth day on trial:

Pecker describes “catch-and-kill.”

Taking the stand for a second day, Mr. Pecker outlined a decades-old friendship with Mr. Trump, a relationship that he said deepened in 2015.

It was then, Mr. Pecker said, that he, Mr. Trump and Michael D. Cohen, Mr. Trump’s former lawyer and fixer, met at Trump Tower in Manhattan to hatch a plan to write promotional stories about Mr. Trump and negative stories about his political opponents.

Mr. Pecker said he acted as the campaign’s “eyes and ears,” notifying Mr. Cohen about possible scandals, particularly regarding women in Mr. Trump’s life.

Mr. Pecker on Tuesday walked through one of the “catch-and-kill” deals. He said that The National Enquirer learned that a doorman who had worked at a Trump building was looking to sell a story about Mr. Trump fathering a child out of wedlock. The tabloid discovered that the story was apparently false, but paid $30,000 anyway, “because of the potential embarrassment” it could have caused Mr. Trump, Mr. Pecker said.

Who Are Key Players in the Trump Manhattan Criminal Trial?

The first criminal trial of former President Donald J. Trump is underway. Take a closer look at central figures related to the case.

Pecker paints a portrait of a bygone era.

Mr. Pecker’s testimony depicted an anachronistic New York, with landlines, powerful supermarket tabloids and must-see network television, including “The Apprentice,” which made Mr. Trump nationally famous.

It also shed light on Mr. Pecker’s editorial tactics, including getting tips from Mr. Trump about who was getting kicked off “The Apprentice,” in line with Mr. Trump’s penchant for feeding dirt to tabloids.

Mr. Pecker said that he called Mr. Trump “Donald,” and that they had “a great relationship,” adding that he went so far as to start a magazine called Trump Style. When he proposed the magazine, Mr. Pecker said, Mr. Trump’s biggest question was, “Who’s going to pay for it?”

Trump’s short leash could get shorter.

Christopher Conroy, a prosecutor with the Manhattan district attorney’s office, argued that Mr. Trump had repeatedly violated the gag order that the court imposed on him. One alleged violation included a nine-minute diatribe outside the courtroom on Monday during which he attacked Michael Cohen, his former fixer and a key witness against him.

“He did it right here,” Mr. Conroy said.

But Mr. Blanche said that the former president was “facing a barrage of political attacks” from several potential witnesses and needed to strike back.

“He’s running for president,” Mr. Blanche said. “He has to be able to respond to that.”

Justice Merchan has chastised Trump once so far, for muttering in front of a prospective juror. If he holds him in criminal contempt, it will mark a serious escalation. For their part, prosecutors said they were not seeking to jail Mr. Trump, but wanted him to be fined.

A frustrated Trump

Mr. Trump sat stoically while prosecutors argued that he violated the gag order. But he grew animated during the interplay between Mr. Blanche and Justice Merchan. On several occasions, the former president sharply turned to his other lawyers and whispered.

When Mr. Blanche finished his argument, Mr. Trump immediately beckoned him over before he snatched a piece of paper off the defense table.

Mr. Trump posted on Truth Social right after the hearing, accusing Justice Merchan of taking away his “right to free speech” and claiming that he was “not allowed to defend myself.”

Thursday will be a big day for Trump in two courts.

Court is not in session on Wednesday, but prosecutors will continue their direct examination of Mr. Pecker on Thursday.

While Mr. Trump is expected to be in court in Manhattan that day, he may be a little preoccupied: In Washington, some of his other lawyers will be arguing in front of the Supreme Court that Mr. Trump should receive presidential immunity from prosecution in a federal election interference case.

Mr. Trump had sought to take a day away from his New York case to watch those arguments, but Justice Merchan denied his request.