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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 .

Spoiler Discussion for the Guilt Trip

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

Spoiler Discussion for The Guilt Trip by Sandie Jones

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.

Spoiler Discussion: The Guilt Trip by Sandie Jones takes place at a wedding 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.

Spoiler Discussion for the Guilt Trip: picture of a huge ocean wave

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.

the guilt trip analysis

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.

 Spoiler Discussion for the Guilt Trip : photo of a couple arguing

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.

Spoiler Discussion for the Guilt Trip: Photo of an outdoor wedding reception at the beach

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.

the guilt trip analysis

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.

black suv

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.

photo of medical professionals wearing personal protective equipment

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.

the guilt trip analysis

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.

the guilt trip analysis

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:

the guilt trip analysis

Spoiler Discussion for Her Dark Lies

the guilt trip analysis

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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On the Road, With Their Baggage

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the guilt trip analysis

By Stephen Holden

  • Dec. 18, 2012

Contrary to what the title and casting might suggest, the Barbra Streisand-Seth Rogen comedy, “The Guilt Trip,” is not “The Shrew and the Cringing Meatball.” There are no screaming accusations, no threats or recriminations, no tearful apologies in this amiable mother-son road odyssey.

The guilt that Ms. Streisand’s character, Joyce Brewster, lays on her grown son, Andy (Mr. Rogen), a struggling inventor, is larded with enough sweetness and awareness of appropriate boundaries that its humor caresses rather than stings. Joyce’s complaints mostly have to do with Andy’s decision to live 3,000 miles away from her in Los Angeles. When his mother becomes overbearing, Andy, sucking in his lower lip, politely silences her. Joyce, even at her most psychologically invasive, never whines or raises her voice.

Directed by Anne Fletcher (“The Proposal,” “27 Dresses”) from a pallid screenplay by Dan Fogelman (“Crazy, Stupid, Love”), “The Guilt Trip” is so comfy cozy that mothers and their grown children can watch it together without squirming. Even Joyce’s recollection of the time Andy’s penis turned purple is a zany throwaway remark delivered without a trace of Freudian insinuation.

What could have been a cutting satirical farce about domineering mothers and emasculated sons is a mildly funny, feel-good love story in which Mom’s sensible advice helps turn around her nerdy son’s foundering career. Although the main characters are softened Jewish stereotypes, there is no mention of religion.

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Andy, who studied organic chemistry at U.C.L.A., is traveling around the country pitching an organic cleaning product he invented that consists of coconut and palm-kernel oils, and soy. You can even drink it. But his presentations are so stiff and jargony that potential backers nod off while he is talking.

When Andy makes a rare visit to see Joyce in New Jersey, he and his mother begin reminiscing. Joyce remembers her first boyfriend before she married Andy’s father, who died when Andy was 8. She has since had no love life.

Andy, sleuthing on the Internet, discovers an unmarried corporate executive living in San Francisco who has the same name as that boyfriend. He invites his mother to join him on his eight-day cross-country return trip without telling her of his plan to look up her first love at the end of the journey. Joyce, not knowing his agenda, jumps at the opportunity to be with her only child for several days.

One bland running joke is Joyce’s obsessive thrift. She insists that they rent a subcompact car instead of an S.U.V., a decision he regrets when they find themselves sandwiched between trucks in an Arkansas blizzard. Joyce also insists that they share the same room in motels and disturbs him with her habit of crunching handfuls of M&Ms while in bed. Since Ms. Streisand , now 70, looks 20 years younger, it is not implausible when one leering motel clerk mistakes them for lovers. But the movie makes little of the confusion.

Joyce is frisky and game for adventure, and in a Lubbock, Tex., steakhouse she agrees to play beat the clock while consuming a 50-ounce steak. This challenge, which could have been milked for farce, is another missed comic opportunity in a movie so timid it seems afraid of its own shadow. The chief pleasures of this mild-mannered dud lie in watching two resourceful comic actors go through their paces like the pros they are.

“The Guilt Trip” is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned). It has mild innuendo and some strong language.

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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

Senior Features Writer

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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. 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 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

Barbra Streisand and Seth Rogen in The Guilt Trip (2012)

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. 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. 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.

  • Anne Fletcher
  • Dan Fogelman
  • Jason Conzelman
  • Barbra Streisand
  • Julene Renee
  • 131 User reviews
  • 147 Critic reviews
  • 50 Metascore
  • 1 nomination

U.S. Version #1

  • Joyce Brewster

Seth Rogen

  • Andrew Brewster

Julene Renee

  • K-Mart Receptionist
  • (as Julene Renee-Preciado)

Zabryna Guevara

  • K-Mart Executive

John Funk

  • Mature Singles Man
  • Mature Singles Woman

Worth Howe

  • Young Joyce
  • Toddler Andy
  • Budget Car Renter

Rick Gonzalez

  • Middlesex Voice Over
  • All cast & crew
  • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Did you know

  • Trivia The Paramount Pictures marketing department were so certain that Barbra Streisand would gain a Golden Globe nomination for her performance, that not only did they put out an ad congratulating her victory, but posted it online moments before the nominations were announced, only to be swiftly pulled when Streisand ended up without the nod.
  • Goofs On the way to see her old boy friend, Joyce uses Ben's name, not Andy's, when she is talking about not having seen him in thirty years.

Joyce Brewster : I wasn't meant to be with Andy Margolis. You see? I was meant to meet him, but I was meant to marry your father. Because if I hadn't, I wouldn't have had you. Don't you see, Andy? It was always you. You're the love of my life, baby. It will always be you.

  • Crazy credits During the credits, more is shown of Andy and his mother dealing with each other during the long drive, that is, several of Rogen and Streisand's comic improvisations. The 'mini-screen' moves a few times to make room for the credits.
  • Connections Featured in Maltin on Movies: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)
  • Soundtracks Howlin' For You Written by Dan Auerbach and Patrick J. Carney (as Patrick Carney) Performed by The Black Keys Courtesy of Nonesuch Records By arrangement with Warner Music Group Film & TV Licensing

User reviews 131

  • Dec 21, 2012
  • How long is The Guilt Trip? Powered by Alexa
  • December 19, 2012 (United States)
  • United States
  • Official site
  • My Mother's Curse
  • Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, USA
  • Paramount Pictures
  • Skydance Media
  • Michaels Goldwyn
  • See more company credits at IMDbPro
  • $40,000,000 (estimated)
  • $37,134,215
  • Dec 23, 2012
  • $41,863,726

Technical specs

  • Runtime 1 hour 35 minutes
  • Dolby Digital

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The Guilt Trip

Where to watch.

Watch The Guilt Trip with a subscription on Paramount+, rent on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, or buy on Fandango at Home, Prime Video.

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.

Critics Reviews

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, common sense media reviewers.

the guilt trip analysis

Stereotypical mother-son comedy is predictably corny.

The Guilt Trip Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

The movie's ultimate message is to honor your

Joyce might be perceived as nagging, but she's

Defending his drunk mom's honor, Andy punches

Andy watches in amusement as a wealthy Texan flirt

One memorable use of "f--k," plus occasi

Since Andy is pitching a cleaning product to vario

Joyce drinks to excess in Texas and then recreatio

Parents need to know that The Guilt Trip is a mother-son comedy that occasionally includes some mature language, humor, and themes. The strong language is occasional but does include one "f--k" and several uses of "s--t," "ass," "damn," and more. There's some…

Positive Messages

The movie's ultimate message is to honor your parents and not take them for granted. The road trip proves that even when your mom drives you crazy, she's still deserving of respect and usually has your best interests at heart.

Positive Role Models

Joyce might be perceived as nagging, but she's a concerned, loving mother who just wants to help her son and spend as much time with him as possible. Andy is bothered by his mother's constant communication and interest in his everyday life, but he comes around once he's calm enough to see his mother's point of view -- and realize that she's actually got a point sometimes.

Violence & Scariness

Defending his drunk mom's honor, Andy punches a cowboy suitor in the face and then gets punched in the eye in response. Joyce warns Andy not to pick up any hitchhikers, because they "rape."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Andy watches in amusement as a wealthy Texan flirts with his mother and asks whether he can take her out on a date back in New York City. Andy and Joyce discuss how she told him about sex and then what his penis looked like when he was a baby. Joyce plays audiobooks in the car that are a little sexually explicit, but Andy shuts them off once they start getting too racy. Andy and Joyce stop by a strip bar, and viewers can see women dancing in the background.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

One memorable use of "f--k," plus occasional use of "holy s--t," "bulls--t," "goddamn," "oh my God," "ass," "idiotic," "stupid," "hell," "whoring," and more. A son speaks harshly to his mother in one scene, saying "just shut up, shut up, shut up." Joyce refers to one of Andy's ex-girlfriends as "Oriental," but he explains that's "not remotely an acceptable term."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Since Andy is pitching a cleaning product to various companies, viewers see the logos and facilities of various stores, including Ace Hardware, Costco, Kmart, and the Home Shopping Network. The road trip is done in a small Chevy Aveo, and they listen to the audiobook of Oprah's Book Club novel Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. Joyce has a nightly routine of eating M&Ms and is obsessed with the Gap. Andy wears a J Crew suit to his meetings.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Joyce drinks to excess in Texas and then recreationally in Las Vegas. Andy drinks in anger after a week of frustration.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that The Guilt Trip is a mother-son comedy that occasionally includes some mature language, humor, and themes. The strong language is occasional but does include one "f--k" and several uses of "s--t," "ass," "damn," and more. There's some mention of sexuality and dating, as well as a couple of brief instances of Joyce ( Barbra Streisand ) flirting on the road. Because of the nature of Andy's ( Seth Rogen ) job, he visits the headquarters of many real companies, including Ace Hardware, Costco, Home Shopping Network, and Kmart. In one scene, Andy gets into a brief fist fight with a man trying to give his already-drunk mom another drink. Ultimately the movie's message is that mothers and sons may not always get along, but they should love and respect each other unconditionally. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Community Reviews

  • Parents say (6)
  • Kids say (10)

Based on 6 parent reviews

Adult Parentification

What's the story.

Chemist Andy Brewster ( Seth Rogen ) has dumped his entire life savings into developing an all-natural cleanser he hopes to distribute in big box stores. His plan is to visit his mother, Joyce ( Barbra Streisand ), in New Jersey and then take a road trip to pitch his line of organic products to various companies' headquarters. After a heart-to-heart with his long-widowed mom, Andy discovers that her first love was also named Andy; a quick Google search places the man in San Francisco. Andy invites his mom to accompany him on the road trip so he can surprise her by visiting her long-lost love in California. On the cross-country trip, mother and son have several small but meaningful adventures.

Is It Any Good?

This is the kind of blandly entertaining comedy you might stream or catch if it's on TV while you're folding laundry, but unless you're a die-hard Babs fan, The Guilt Trip is far from a must-see. There are some occasionally amusing sequences in this formulaic comedy -- like the bizarre humor of watching Streisand scarf down a four-pound cut of beef at a Texas steak joint, just so her beloved baby boy doesn't have to pay for her entree. And every now and then Rogen's seemingly improvised asides or genuine discomfort at discussing sex with his mother also hit the mark.

But in general, the predictable nature of the plot -- a co-dependent, stereotypical Jewish mother and her reluctant mama's boy hit the road, and each finds out the other can be right some of the time -- is a lot less compelling than the ticket price would demand.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about movies featuring strong mother-and-child story lines. How is the mom in The Guilt Trip a stereotypical nagging mother? How else could the character have been portrayed?

What do Joyce and Andy learn about each other on their trip? How does their relationship change because of it?

Why do you think the filmmaker decided to include real brands in the movie instead of made-up ones? Does it add or take away from the story?

Movie Details

  • In theaters : December 19, 2012
  • On DVD or streaming : April 30, 2013
  • Cast : Barbra Streisand , Seth Rogen , Yvonne Strahovski
  • Director : Anne Fletcher
  • Inclusion Information : Female actors
  • Studio : Paramount Pictures
  • Genre : Comedy
  • Run time : 95 minutes
  • MPAA rating : PG-13
  • MPAA explanation : language and some risque material
  • Last updated : December 29, 2023

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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Advertisement

How to recognize a guilt trip & respond when it happens.

Sarah Regan

If someone has ever tried to make you feel bad about something without directly saying it, you may well have been a victim to guilt tripping. This behavior isn't uncommon, but if you don't know what to look for, you might not realize it's happening. Here's how to spot guilt trip signs, plus how to deal with it, according to experts.

What does "guilt trip" really mean?

Guilt tripping is a type of behavior that involves making someone feel guilty for something rather than directly expressing your displeasure. As therapist and relationship expert Ken Page, LCSW, explains to mbg, it's a form of manipulation designed to either make the person feel bad or to get them to do something you want by evoking guilt.

According to both Page and licensed marriage and family therapist  Shane Birkel, LMFT, guilt tripping is classic passive-aggressive behavior because it indicates an inability—or at least an unwillingness—to communicate in a healthy and constructive way.

This kind of behavior can be seen across all kinds of relationships, from romantic to parent-child relationships to friendships, and even in the workplace between bosses or co-workers.

Why it's not OK to guilt trip someone.

It's not a bad thing to express when you feel hurt or upset by someone else's behavior, Page notes, but when you start to become passive aggressive and manipulative about it, that's when it becomes a problem. "Guilt tripping is indirect and manipulative, [and] it works by making people feel bad about themselves," he says.

Birkel adds that guilt tripping also doesn't require the same vulnerability as directly sharing your hurt and how you're feeling. "It's shaming the other person, making comments that make the other person feel bad, sort of blaming and attacking—and so in that way, I don't think there's ever an appropriate or OK situation to guilt trip. It's always going to be a harsh way of treating the other person," he notes.

Open and vulnerable communication, such as saying, "Hey, I understand we all run late sometimes, but it makes me feel like you're not prioritizing our time together when you show up late," for example, would not be guilt tripping, Birkel adds.

Is guilt tripping a form of gaslighting?

Gaslighting and guilt tripping are not the same, though they have "large areas of overlap," according to Page. He notes that gaslighting is all about denying someone's reality to make them question themselves, which is a "deep form of manipulation."

Guilt tripping is more about making someone feel bad or guilty for their behavior. That said, dark personality types like narcissists and other toxic people will often use both of these manipulation tactics freely and without remorse, Page explains.

Common signs to look out for:

  • Behavior and comments meant to make you feel guilty or bad
  • Making you feel like you owe them something
  • Refusal to say what's wrong but acting upset
  • Expressing negative feelings about you in indirect ways
  • Comments like "I must not mean that much to you," "I'm glad you could finally squeeze me into your busy schedule," or, "I do so much for you," etc.
  • Talking about you as a bad person, partner, friend, etc.
  • Withholding affection and/or attention as punishment
  • Passive-aggressive behavior

The main things you want to look for when it comes to someone guilt tripping you are an inability to express negative feelings directly and behavior that makes you feel guilty. As Page explains, "When you feel that sharp pang of guilt, ask yourself, what is happening? Are you being made to feel that you are less of a good person, or were they actually bothered appropriately by something you did that you need to fix and correct?"

When you become aware of how guilt feels in your body and the thoughts it makes you think, that's the quickest way to identify guilt tripping behavior, he adds. And if you're noticing a trend that this person has a hard time expressing when you've done something that bothers them, that's a telltale sign too.

Reasons for guilt tripping.

There are plenty of reasons that people resort to guilt tripping, whether subconscious or very much conscious. A lot of the time, Page explains, it's simply the "easiest" option, compared to actually being vulnerable and stating your needs and feelings in a direct way.

Sometimes people want sympathy, sometimes they want to manipulate your behavior, and sometimes they may just be looking for attention. But the key is they're not willing to be outright about what they're wanting from the interaction.

According to Birkel, guilt tripping someone can also be "a twisted way of trying to get compassion." They're trying to make you feel bad about what you did because they want you to understand how it hurt them, he says.

"Often, when we feel that something is wrong but we don't feel that we have a right to ask for what we want, we use guilt tripping or other passive-aggressive behavior instead," Page explains. "In other words, our guilt around our own needs makes us guilt trip other people."

Birkel also notes this kind of behavior can stem from having this behavior modeled for you growing up, as well as not having your needs met as a child. "If someone grew up in a family where they weren't allowed to have a voice, or their wants and needs were shut down by a parent, they might start guilt tripping others because they never learned how to communicate directly," he explains.

How to respond to a guilt trip.

How you choose to respond when someone guilt trips you will depend on everything from your communication style to how much patience you have in the moment and how serious the situation is. In extreme cases, especially in situations where you're being unfairly blamed for something, you always have the option to set a boundary and walk away from the conversation.

With all that said, Page and Birkel both recommend extending compassion when you can. "Underneath the guilt tripping is a request, hidden in blaming, passive-aggressive behavior," Page explains. And as Birkel notes, that hidden request is often compassion and understanding.

For starters, there might be an apology you can and should make if you did actually hurt this person (intentionally or not). Birkel suggests starting there, and to emphasize that you understand why they're feeling the way they do. That can sound like "I understand why you're upset, and I apologize for X."

Then, once the apology is made earnestly and accepted, perhaps a couple of hours later, he says you can bring up that you didn't appreciate the way they approached the conversation, saying something like, "Again, I understand why you were upset, and I felt like you were trying to make to feel guilty, so I'm hoping you could communicate with me more directly about what's going on for you in the future."

Ultimately, Page says, it's important that you and the other person both get to speak your mind about how you're really feeling. In some cases, for instance, you might be letting somebody down and disappointing them, but that doesn't mean that you have anything to feel guilty for; you just might not be able to meet their expectations, he explains. "On the other hand, when you listen to what they want and need, if it feels valid, you might want to reconsider your actions," he adds.

It comes down to honest, open, and vulnerable communication, which is a skill that can take time to cultivate. But the good news is, the more you practice healthy communication , the easier it becomes over time.

The bottom line.

Guilt tripping can range from small, rare instances to extreme cases of manipulation. If things escalate to the point of emotional abuse , remove yourself from the situation as best you can. Otherwise, guilt tripping is a behavior (albeit a frustrating one) that can be worked on and improved with healthy communication and vulnerability.

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The Psychology of the Guilt-Tripper

Projection, "pathological certainty," and lack of self-awareness..

Posted December 23, 2021 | Reviewed by Vanessa Lancaster

  • Coping With Guilt
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  • Guilt-tripping is a form of unconscious emotional blackmail whereby the guilt-tripper feels entitled and innocent of any misdeed.
  • Lack of awareness of self or others fuels the narcissistic tendency to adhere rigidly to their perceptions with "pathological certainty."
  • Our reactions in relationships are determined by what we think someone's behavior means and how this affects our sense of security.

Istockphoto/Jack F.

Alongside love, gifts, and food, guilt is often served up for the holidays and other emotionally loaded family gatherings. We’ve all tasted it. “Why can’t you stay longer? You're too busy now for me?” mom said to Michael as he kissed her goodbye. Later that week, when he called his mom, she seemed aloof, giving him the cold shoulder.

And so it goes when guilt is used unconsciously to get loved ones to do what we want and “feel our pain” – though it does not always produce the intended result. Further, when it does “work,” guilt is costly to the relationship – breeding resentment and limiting authentic engagement, co-opting the genuine desire to connect, and replacing it with robotic compliance, rebellion, and/or avoidance. Regardless, it’s not uncommon for certain people to resort to using and manipulating others without awareness to manage longing, loss, disappointment, anxiety , and other states of mind.

Guilt-tripping is, in effect, a form of emotional blackmail. But it is typically an unconscious process whereby the guilt-tripper feels entitled and innocent of any misdeed. On the receiving end, it feels like an oppressive intangible force that invisibly intrudes into our personal space confusingly and frustratingly, bolstered by plausible deniability and reversal of blame.

What leads some people to be so easily offended and resort to emotional manipulation to get others to do what they want or pay the price?

How we feel in relationships and whether disappointments are tolerable is mostly determined not by what another person does but, rather, our interpretation of what it really means, how it affects our sense of security, and, importantly, whether these assumptions are taken as facts.

In a healthier version of events, the mom might have interpreted her son’s decision to leave in a way that was more benign and less self-focused, which would have made it easier for her to tolerate her feelings of disappointment about him leaving.

If she had thought: “I know he has a lot going on in his own life now, but it’s hard to say goodbye,” she might have felt a bittersweet feeling, appreciated him more, or maybe felt gratitude . In this mindset, she might have said, “I’ve missed you - it’s always so wonderful to see you. I’m glad you came over.” Expressing love and validation in this way nurtures the relationship and organically paves the way for more good experiences together.

In contrast, Michael’s mom personalized the meaning of her son’s decision to leave and, feeling rebuffed, confused her feelings with his intention and motivation – a common cognitive attribution error. Because she feared being forgotten and abandoned, she assumed, “He’s leaving because he doesn’t care about me anymore.” This interpretation set the stage for a self-fulfilling prophecy, creating the very avoidance and rejection she feared, with her accusation, implicit demand, and cold shoulder.

The Psychology of a Guilt Tripper

We have all felt slighted or rejected at times, even when the other person’s behavior or attitude had nothing to do with us. It is easy to project our reactions and fears onto situations when we feel insecure, especially ambiguity. But reading negative intent into something a person says or does because it made us feel bad is a false equivalency that typically leads to the wrong conclusion, usually a more painful one.

A characteristic pattern of misinterpretations like these coupled with emotionally manipulative behavior is different from normal insecurity. This dynamic results from an essential inability to step outside of oneself and notice, as well as tolerate, that a loved one is separate from us with their mind and motivations. People who habitually relate in this way are not onto themselves. They lack “mindsight” – the capacity to reflect, recognize and interpret their state of mind and other people’s. (Siegel & Hartzell, 2018) This lack of awareness fuels a narcissistic tendency to rigidly adhere to one’s beliefs and impressions with “pathological certainty,” creating a perfect storm to perceive others as disloyal and abandoning and punishing non-compliance.

What About When Someone Actually “Deserves” It?

When someone does us wrong, it’s human to want justice and seek vindication. We want whoever hurt us to suffer too, and even the score. In this case, unlike the previous example, the need to punish someone and make them feel bad is not disowned but deliberate, conscious, and even satisfying (mostly in fantasy ).

the guilt trip analysis

Does Punishing Other People Help Us Feel Better?

(For more on this topic: Should You Punish Bad Behavior? The Answer May Surprise You )

In practice, evening the score means you are caught being controlled by what the other person did and perpetuates a destructive cycle, rather than solving the problem. Winning the battle of vengeance is a defeat for the relationship, reinforcing the practice of dirty fighting and one-upmanship to manage hurt and anger . Further, encouraging this mindset in oneself rehearses a repetitive inner script and neural pathway fueling anger.

Alternatively, when we choose to uphold our standard of behavior rather than be reactive and indulge anger, we feel more peaceful, in control, and freed up to create new pathways.

A Positive Motivation: Trying To Make a Connection

There is also a positive, unconscious motivation for making someone feel bad when they’ve hurt us that is often misunderstood and missed. When someone we are attached to seems impervious or indifferent to how we feel, trying to make them feel bad and evoke a reaction can be an instinctive, primitive effort to communicate pain, elicit empathy, and create a “felt” connection. This can happen when the need to connect is intense, but there is no way to get through and wake the other person out of their detachment or indifference or get them to feel something closer to the intensity of what we feel.

Istock/Sironosov

Jenny was close with her dad until high school when her parents divorced . Hurt and angry when he left, Jenny became cold towards her dad and acted like she didn’t care, avoiding his calls and texts and making excuses not to see him.

Her dad already felt guilty about leaving and handled his guilt and his daughter’s rejection by being detached and distant. When he told his therapist the story, she helped him understand Jenny’s behavior as communication – an attempt to get him to feel how she felt to bridge the gap between them. Then, rather than seeing Jenny as manipulative and taking her behavior literally and withdrawing out of guilt, anger, and defeat, the dad used his feelings to help him be empathic to what Jenny was going through. Empowered, he reached out to her in a heartfelt way, healing a painful impasse in their relationship. (My previous post may help further an understanding of the causes and effects of shame and guilt.)

How Can We Tell if the Guilt in Our Lives Is Pathological?

For more on this topic check out my next post: How to Tell What Your Guilt Means )

The answer lies in how it affects our relationships. The hallmark of a healthy relationship is mutuality – the back and forth dance between two people as they move between connection and autonomy. Guilt-tripping is an unwitting attempt to manage perceived rejection, loneliness , or other difficult feelings by controlling other people, seeing them as responsible for our state of mind, and trying to force them to make up for our suffering or else pay the price.

The predominant attitude of entitlement and lack of respect for other people’s separateness and autonomy that is endemic to guilt violates the mutuality of relationships. And the feeling of gratitude that nourishes love and peace.

Awareness of our loved one’s limitations and propensities, in this case being on to the guilt-tripper, can allow us to preempt difficult situations and binds. We don’t have to feel guilty for setting the boundaries we need. We can love and care about someone and legitimately, without malice, have different boundaries and needs that compete with theirs.

On the one hand, setting limits makes us feel better and seem selfish. But the truth is that respecting our boundaries allows us to protect our relationships from being contaminated by resentment and emotional distance, making it safe for us to truly engage. It is an act of love, respect, and wisdom all around.

Facebook image: fizkes/Shutterstock

Siegel, D.J., & Hartzell, M. (2018). Parenting from the inside out: how a deeper self-understanding can help you raise children who thrive. Scribe Publications.

Lynn Margolies Ph.D.

Lynn Margolies, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist and former Harvard Medical School faculty and fellow. She has helped many different types of people and families overcome obstacles and improve their lives.

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Largely loyal to the 2018 highly-acclaimed thriller of the same name, “The Guilty” will offend some cinephiles with its very existence. “Just see the original,” they will shout, basically ending all conversation about the remake with the accusation that it should have never happened. However, if you’re willing to recognize that the remake industry isn’t that black and white (and not as purely American a trend as Twitter seems to have falsely been led to believe), there’s a lot to like here, including the fact that what I suspect will be a smash hit for Netflix will lead people back to the excellent original.

Ultimately, the narrative of Antoine Fuqua ’s “The Guilty” operates largely from the motto of “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” And yet, to be fair, screenwriter Nic Pizzolatto (“True Detective”) does add a few different notes of commentary on American policing and ignorant masculinity that slightly distinguish his take thematically, and Jake Gyllenhaal delivers as one would expect, proving again that he’s one of the most consistent actors alive.

The skeleton of this thriller is pretty much identical, all the way down to the clever little prologue that sets up our protagonist as flawed while also adding a different backdrop that’s very California. We meet Joe Baylor (Gyllenhaal) on the night shift in a 911 dispatch center as his city of Los Angeles burns on massive screens in the background. He’s an asthmatic who has been forced to use his inhaler even more in this era of smoke and flame. He’s also wrestling with an undefined controversy that demoted this LAPD officer into a dispatcher and has led to calls from reporters. Finally, he’s dealing with a separation from his family, trying to call his daughter just to say goodnight. All of this oppressive tension leads him to quickly judge the people who call him, like when he scolds a caller for taking drugs or argues with another who has been robbed by a prostitute on Bunker Hill.

The breakneck pace of this thriller picks up when Joe gets a call from a terrified woman named Emily ( Riley Keough , giving an absolutely phenomenal voice performance). She’s in trouble but can’t exactly say why, so Joe leads her through a series of yes and no questions. He figures out she’s in a very bad situation, and he soon gets incredibly invested in her nightmare, even more so after he speaks to Emily’s six-year-old daughter, who is home alone and terrified. He vows to save Emily and her daughter without really having any clear understanding of what’s going on. He acts on his interpretations and makes some drastic mistakes. Fuqua and Pizzolatto carefully tie Joe's behavior into errors in police work without ever making the film into a commentary on Defunding the Police. Still, the fact is that Joe is going to appear in court the next day for mistakes he made on the job, and there’s a throughline of what happens to him on this very long night that reflects how often cops act urgently and incorrectly, allowing emotion to overwhelm reason.

Of course, most of all, this is a taut genre exercise that Hitch would have loved—it has a similar forced perspective to “ Rear Window ” if you think about it. And Gyllenhaal completely commits, filling almost every frame of the 90-minute film. He conveys the tenor of a broken man from the very beginning, finding an emotional undercurrent of salvation in Joe that wasn’t fully explored in the original. There’s a sense that if he can save Emily that everything will finally be better. He will be a good cop, a good father, and a good man. Of course, anyone who places that much personal baggage on one case is going to make crucial mistakes. Gyllenhaal goes deep here—it will be too broad for some in the final scenes—but I was reminded how invested he is every single time. He never phones it in.

Fuqua’s smartest decision is to put the weight of the piece on Joe’s shoulders. Other directors would have added graphics like a ticking clock or over-cut the piece, but Fuqua and editor Jason Ballantine (“ It ”) keep us locked into Joe Baylor, often letting his conversations unfold in unbroken shots. There are so many places that “The Guilty” could have gone wrong—and I’m sure some of them were discussed in producer’s offices—that I’m happy to report that Fuqua and his team very clearly understood what worked about the original. They add just enough of their own flavor while maintaining the thrust of their source so that only the most purist could argue against their innocence in the court of movie criticism.  

This review was originally filed after the world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 11th. It opens in limited theatrical release on September 24 th and it will be on Netflix on October 1 st .

Brian Tallerico

Brian Tallerico

Brian Tallerico is the Managing Editor of RogerEbert.com, and also covers television, film, Blu-ray, and video games. He is also a writer for Vulture, The Playlist, The New York Times, and GQ, and the President of the Chicago Film Critics Association.

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The Guilty (2021)

Rated R for language throughout.

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What Is Guilt Tripping?

Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

the guilt trip analysis

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Frequently Asked Questions

A guilt trip means causing another person to feel guilt or a sense of responsibility to change their behavior or take a specific action. Because guilt can be such a powerful motivator of human behavior, people can wield it as a tool to change how others think, feel, and behave. 

Sometimes this might involve leaning on something that someone already feels guilty about. In other cases, people might induce feelings of unjustified guilt or responsibility to manipulate the other person's emotions and behaviors.

If someone has ever made you feel bad about something you’ve done (or didn’t do) and then used those bad feelings to get you to do something for them, then you have experience with guilt tripping.

This article discusses the signs, types, and impact of guilt trips. It also covers some of the steps you can take to cope with this type of behavior.

Signs of a Guilt Trip

Guilt trips can be intentional, but they can also be unintentional. There are chances that you have even guilt-tripped people into doing things before.

Sometimes guilt tripping behavior can be easy to spot, but it can also be much more subtle and difficult to detect.  Some key signs that others may be guilt-tripping you include:

  • Making comments suggesting that you have not done as much work as they have done
  • Bringing up mistakes that you have made in the past
  • Reminding you of favors they have performed for you in the past
  • Acting as if they are angry but then denying that there is a problem
  • Refusing to speak to you or giving you the silent treatment
  • Making it clear through their body language , tone of voice, and facial expressions that they disapprove of what you were doing
  • Suggesting that you “owe” them
  • Engaging in passive-aggressive behavior
  • Making sarcastic comments about your efforts or progress

It is important to note that this type of indirect communication can occur in any interpersonal relationship. Still, it is more likely to take place in relationships that are marked by close emotional connections.

It can show up in romantic relationships, but guilt trips may also be utilized in family relationships, parental relationships, and even work relationships.

Types of Guilt Tripping

There are many different types of guilt trips that people may utilize depending on the ultimate goal or purpose of the behavior. Some of the different purposes of a guilt trip include:

  • Manipulation : Sometimes, the primary goal of a guilt trip is to manipulate someone into doing something that they normally would not want to do.  
  • Conflict avoidance : In other cases, people may use guilt trips to avoid directly talking about an issue. It allows them to get what they want without having to engage in direct conflict.
  • Moral education : Guilt trips can also be a way of getting someone to engage in a behavior that the individual feels is more moral or “right.”
  • Elicit sympathy : In some cases, guilt-tripping allows the individual to gain the sympathy of others by casting themselves in the role of someone who has been harmed by the actions the other person is supposed to feel guilty about.

Guilt isn't always a bad thing. While often troubling and unpleasant, it can serve an important role in guiding moral behavior. When people experience guilt, they can fix their mistakes and avoid repeating the same errors in the future.

Researcher Courtney Humeny

A guilt trip does not appear to induce the benefits of guilt, such as making amends, honesty, and mutual understanding.

Impact of Guilt Trips

Invoking feelings of guilt to change someone’s behavior can have a wide variety of effects. Whether guilt is wielded intentionally or not, it prevents healthy communication and connections with others. Some of the most immediate effects of this form of covert psychological manipulation include:

Damage to Relationships

Research suggests that guilt trips can take a toll on close relationships. One study found that people hurt by their partner's criticism were more likely to use those hurt feelings to make their partner feel guilty and offer reassurances.

However, the study also found that the partner who had been guilt-tripped into offering assurances was more likely to feel significantly worse about the relationship.

In other words, inducing feelings of guilt may work to get your partner to do what you want—but it comes at a cost. It can impair trust and cause the other person to feel that they are being manipulated. 

One of the reasons why guilt trips can poison relationships is because they can lead to lasting feelings of resentment.

"A guilt trip imposes aversive states associated with guilt, along with feelings of resentment from feeling manipulated," Humeny suggests.

A single occasion of someone using a guilt trip to alter your behavior might not have a serious impact on your relationship. Repeated use of guilt trips can leave you feeling bitter.

If you feel that your partner is always going to guilt you into something that you don't want to do, it can decrease intimacy, reduce emotional closeness, and ultimately make you start to resent your partner.

Research suggests that appeals to guilt are a common type of persuasion technique . However, while guilt can compel people to take certain actions, it can also sometimes backfire.

Low-level guilt tends to motivate people to act on the persuasive message. High levels of guilt, however, often fail due to what researchers call "reactance." 

"An individual in a state of reactance will behave in such a way as to restore his freedom (or, at least, his sense of freedom), for example, by performing behaviors that are contrary to those required," explain researchers Aurélien Graton and Melody Mailliez in a 2019 article published in the journal Behavioral Sciences .

In other words, guilt trips can backfire and lead people to behave opposite how someone else wants them to act. For example, someone guilt-tripping you into calling them more often might actually result in calling them less.

Poor Well-being

Feelings of excessive guilt are associated with several mental health conditions, including anxiety, depression , and obsessive-compulsive disorder . Being subjected to guilt trips may contribute to the development or worsening of such conditions.

Experiencing guilt can also lead to many immediate and unpleasant emotions and symptoms such as anxiety, sadness, regret, worry, muscle tension, and insomnia.

This type of covert manipulation may also sometimes contribute to the development of a guilt complex , which is a persistent belief that you have done (or will do) something wrong.

Over time, guilt can lead to feelings of shame. Shame can affect your self-image, which can then contribute to social withdrawal and isolation.

How to Cope With Guilt Tripping

There are a number of tactics that can be helpful when dealing with a guilt trip. Some steps you can take include:

  • Acknowledge the request. Let them know that you understand that it is important to them. Responding with empathy and showing that you see their needs may help them feel that they are not simply being ignored. Validating their emotions may help lessen the intensity of those feelings.
  • Share your feelings . Explain that you also see how they are trying to make you feel guilty so that you'll do what they want. Then tell them how that type of manipulation makes you feel. Suggest that interacting in that way will lead to resentment and that more direct communication forms would be more effective. 
  • Set boundaries . Boundaries help set limits on what you will and will not accept. Even if you do end up helping them with their request, make sure you clearly articulate your limits and explain the consequences of crossing those boundaries. Then be sure that you enforce those limits if they are crossed.

Other things that you can use include protecting your self-esteem and distancing yourself if needed. You're more likely to fall for a guilt trip if you already feel poorly about yourself, so find strategies to build up your sense of self-worth. 

If the other person keeps trying to manipulate you with feelings of guilt, reduce your communication with them or even consider ending the relationship.

Protecting your own well-being should be a top priority. A person who tries to manipulate you with toxic feelings of shame and guilt does not have your best interests at heart.

Getting Help for Guilt

If you are experiencing feelings of guilt or related symptoms of anxiety, stress, or depression, talk to your health care provider or a mental health professional. They can recommend treatment options such as psychotherapy or medications that can help manage symptoms and improve the quality of your life.

Your doctor or therapist may suggest a type of therapy called cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) , which may help reduce inappropriate guilt feelings. This type of therapy can help you identify and change the negative thoughts and cognitive distortions that can contribute to feelings of guilt.

Your therapist can also help you learn to recognize the signs of a guilt trip—and help you practice strategies to cope with this type of emotional manipulation.

An example of guilt tripping might be your friend calling you and saying, "I know you are too busy with work to hang out. I'll just spend the evening by myself. I just thought that since I helped you get that job you would make sure to make a little more time for me." This type of comment is designed to induce feelings of guilt and bring up the idea that you "owe" them in some way.

Guilt tripping is often designed to manipulate other people by preying on their emotions and feelings of guilt or responsibility. This can be a form of toxic behavior that can have detrimental effects on a person's well-being as well as their relationships.

While both behaviors are destructive and toxic, they differ in key ways. Gaslighting is a type of emotional abuse that involves denying another person's reality and making them question their own experiences. Guilt tripping, on the other hand, is about causing another person to feel guilty in order to get them to change their behavior.

Humeny C. A qualitative investigation of a guilt trip . Conference: Institute of Cognitive Science Spring Proceedings.

Overall NC, Girme YU, Lemay EP Jr, Hammond MD. Attachment anxiety and reactions to relationship threat: the benefits and costs of inducing guilt in romantic partners . J Pers Soc Psychol . 2014;106(2):235-56. doi:10.1037/a0034371

Aurélien G, Melody M. A theory of guilt appeals: a review showing the importance of investigating cognitive processes as mediators between emotion and behavior .  Behav Sci (Basel) . 2019;9(12):117. doi:10.3390/bs9120117

Tilghman-Osborne C, Cole DA, Felton JW.  Definition and measurement of guilt: Implications for clinical research and practice .  Clin Psychol Rev . 2010;30(5):536-546. doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2010.03.007

Miceli M, Castelfranchi C.  Reconsidering the differences between shame and guilt .  Eur J Psychol . 2018;14(3):710-733. doi:10.5964/ejop.v14i3.1564

Herr NR, Jones AC, Cohn DM, Weber DM.  The impact of validation and invalidation on aggression in individuals with emotion regulation difficulties .  Personal Disord . 2015;6(4):310-4. doi:10.1037/per0000129

Cleantis T. Boundaries and self-care . Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation.

Hedman E, Ström P, Stünkel A, Mörtberg E. Shame and guilt in social anxiety disorder: effects of cognitive behavior therapy and association with social anxiety and depressive symptoms . PLoS One . 2013;8(4):e61713. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0061713

Johnson VE, Nadal KL, Sissoko DRG, King R. "It's not in your head": Gaslighting, 'splaining, victim blaming, and other harmful reactions to microaggressions .  Perspect Psychol Sci . 2021;16(5):1024-1036. doi:10.1177/17456916211011963

By Kendra Cherry, MSEd Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

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The Guilt Trip (2012)

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Mark Bonnar as Max and Jamie Sives as Jake in Guilt

​​Guilt series three review – this thrilling drama is back on form for its big goodbye

The Edinburgh crime series bids farewell with the brothers reunited, career-best acting and a plot that makes every single character face a life-defining crisis. It’s a wild ride

‘E verything is murky in this world,” said Edinburgh’s top gangster, Roy Lynch (Stuart Bowman), laying down a warning to one of his many innocent victims, “and you are lost within it.” That was towards the end of Guilt’s second season, when the programme got a little lost in the murk itself. But with a writer as fine as Neil Forsyth in charge, the third and (by Forsyth’s own choosing) final season of this mordant noir fable finds a way through.

Guilt began with squabbling brothers Max (Mark Bonnar) and Jake (Jamie Sives) accidentally running over and killing a man while driving home from a wedding. Their efforts to escape responsibility for what they’ve done put pressure on the old wounds in their relationship: Max the serpentine, polo-necked lawyer, with his fancy house and his belief that rules ought not to apply to him, was forever being tripped up and dragged down by Jake, a shambling, open-hearted record shop owner and failed musician whose simple view of the world often brought with it an uncomfortable moral clarity that didn’t fit with Max’s scheming.

Max and Jake’s Fargo-ish descent into farcical peril ended, in season one, with Max going to prison – featuring a last, long closeup of realisation spreading across his face as he was driven away, which paid homage to The Long Good Friday – and Jake, having sold his brother out, fleeing to Chicago to fulfil his dream of owning a dive bar. A second, almost Jake-less second season saw the ex-con Max, his old life gone, embroiled in a vengeful battle with the intimidating Roy and his even more intimidating wife, Maggie, a cardigan-wearing cobra played with calm relish by a magnificently against-type Phyllis Logan.

Phyllis Logan as Maggie Lynch directs an extremely steely gaze on an unseen person

Guilt was still rich, gamey drama, written with a pitiless eye for human weakness and a savvy appreciation of the shame driving so many of its characters, torn between Edinburgh – where the crooks wear expensive suits – and its rougher port, Leith. Max and the Lynches had become Edinburgh people, but the stain of Leith refused to wash off. Yet without the sibling resentment, some of the show’s heart had gone, and its web of machinations and betrayals became hard to follow. At times even the excellence of the scripts were a drag: Guilt started to suffer from what you might call Succession Exhaustion, as almost every scene became an intense, extended two-hander, a psychological war stuffed with bitter epigrams and cruelly revealed secrets. Watching one epic verbal smackdown after another (and another) was a bit much.

As we rejoin it for the last death-waltz, Guilt is still skulking stealthily around Edinburgh’s underbelly. Maggie Lynch is still holding meetings, ie conversations where she threatens to kill someone, either in the city’s fanciest rooms or in disarmingly beautiful pockets of post-industrial wasteland. The soundtrack, still precisely curated for the enjoyment of discerning folk born in the 1960s or 70s, is populated by the Cramps, the Sensational Alex Harvey Band, the Mekons, Wire and the Stranglers.

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But Jake and Max are reunited, the little bro along for the ride as Max engages in a final game with Maggie. A show that has always been about the impossibility of outrunning one’s past becomes more focused than ever on fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, childhood echoing into adulthood and people who can only play the terrible cards they were dealt at birth. There are new schemes afoot, too: a silver-smooth local banker announcing a lucrative deal, and teenaged drug dealers conducting a breathless chase through a Leith estate, both of which must surely end up being something to do with Max v Maggie. Old faces return when least expected; a face is finally put to a name previously only referred to, painfully, in passing.

Sometimes Guilt still gets bogged down in its own complex ambition. As the end draws near and the entire cast of characters simultaneously face a life-defining choice or crisis, keeping track of who is double-crossing whom becomes virtually impossible, and some of Forsyth’s weighty dialogue is still a burden. A trip to a loch inspires a clanging analogy about how the watchfulness of a fisher might be applied to the Edinburgh/Leith criminal underworld, while Maggie has one line that tips her from controlled menace into camp villainy.

Despite that, Phyllis Logan is the perfect antagonist: omniscient and omnipotent in the manor she runs, with a jagged personal brittleness beginning to poke through her armour. Opposite her, Bonnar has never been better in a role that lets him display his two great strengths – hypnotic charm and snarling, desperate malevolence – at the same time. They have made Guilt’s trip around Edinburgh’s dark corners a rare thrill.

Guilt is available on BBC iPlayer and airs on BBC Two in the UK from 27 April, with an Australian screening date to be confirmed.

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the guilt trip analysis

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A Stranger Wanted To Buy Her A Drink, But She Refused. Now She Feels Bad Because The Bartender Laid A Guilt Trip On Her.

Call me crazy, but I don’t think ANYONE should EVER accept a drink from a stranger in a bar.

It’s a bad idea!

But this woman got a bunch of grief for doing just that when she was out drinking.

Was she wrong?

Check out what she had to say.

AITA for refusing a shot at a hotel bar from a stranger? “I (24f) was recently on a work trip in a city a few hours from my home. On the last night of the trip my boss and a couple colleagues went down to the hotel bar to have a couple drinks and discuss the trip. We had been there for about an hour when the bartender comes over and asks me if I’d like a shot. I said no thank you, and she said “are you sure? I think a stranger really wants to buy it for you”.
I again stated that it was a kind offer but no thank you, as I didn’t want to take shots in front of my boss. Apparently this really upset the guy and the bartender told me I should feel bad because apparently he was a regular and he “might never come back”. She also said I could’ve just taken it because it was rude to turn it down.
I know I was already having a drink, but I thought a shot in front of the boss wouldn’t be a great look. I really didn’t think I was in the wrong but I’m curious to know what others think.”

Here’s how Reddit users reacted.

One person shared their thoughts.

Another reader said she’s NTA.

This Reddit user sounded off.

Another individual offered some advice.

This person shared their thoughts…

I know I’d never accept a drink from a stranger!

If you liked that post, check out this post about a rude customer who got exactly what they wanted in their pizza .

Sign Up to receive the Twisted Sifters weekly newsletter for the best Internet culture news updates.

The post A Stranger Wanted To Buy Her A Drink, But She Refused. Now She Feels Bad Because The Bartender Laid A Guilt Trip On Her. first on TwistedSifter .

Source: Reddit/AITA/Unsplash/@llehotsky

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Atlanta Braves pitcher Max Fried had a good outing on Sunday against the Los Angeles Dodgers, but they took advantage of his mistakes and got four runs via homers off of the lefty.

© Kiyoshi Mio-USA TODAY Sports

COLUMN: Braves Fans Shouldn’t Panic After That Road Trip

Despite how it might feel right now, the Atlanta Braves are going to be fine.

  • Author: Lindsay Crosby

The Atlanta Braves stumbled last week. 

The Braves went 1-5 on their most recent road trip, a swing across the West Coast, only winning one game against the Seattle Mariners and then getting swept by the Los Angeles Dodgers. It’s led to a lot of hand-wringing from within the fanbase and misguided “ the Braves are in trouble ” comments from national media. 

And let’s call a spade a spade: Things aren’t great for the Braves at the moment. Across that six-game road trip, Atlanta hitters batted .168/.218/.244 with 58 strikeouts and only eight extra-base hits. They stranded thirty-one runners on base and scored a total of fourteen runs, just barely over two runs a game.

Ronald Acuña Jr. has forty strikeouts in just thirty-two games played this season. He’s already surpassed last season’s number of multi-strikeout games and his forty punchouts are almost half of last season’s total of eighty-four. Matt Olson’s batting just .197 and Austin Riley’s hitting at a .237 clip. 

Here’s the thing: It’s fine.

It’s not great, mind you, but it’s fine. 

Despite all of these struggles, Atlanta’s still the third-highest scoring team in runs per game, at 5.09. They’re 20-12, the last team to hit double-digit losses on the season. 

They’re going to be fine. 

Because every team struggles, and Atlanta is no exception to that. 

We can all agree that the 2023 Atlanta Braves were one of the best offensive teams we’ve ever seen, right? They tied the all-time single-season homer record, launching 307 homers. They led baseball in almost every single offensive category, scoring an absurd 947 runs. 

But they struggled for stretches, too. Speaking of bad road trips, remember that Toronto Blue Jays sweep in mid-May? The Braves got doubled up on runs, 14-7, and lost all three games. Remember heading out to Oakland Athletics and barely squeaking out one win in three tries? 

What about the six-game homestand in mid July against the Chicago White Sox and Arizona Diamondbacks, where you won the first game and the last game while getting outscored by seventeen runs in the middle four losses? 

The same Dodgers team that speed-bagged the Braves this weekend had a similar six-game stretch in mid-April, going 1-5 against the San Diego Padres, Washington Nationals and New York Mets. In those six games, they struck out 52 times.

It happens.

These things happen when you play 162 games. You’re going to have those situations where you get the combo of facing a good opponent, having a rough few days, and having some bad luck.

And I don’t mean “bad luck” as in “the ball took some weird bounces”. I mean those fluky things that happen in baseball - the things that even out over the course of 162 games but not over a three-game series or a six-game road trip. Ronald Acuña Jr getting picked off of second base right before Austin Riley hits his first home run in three weeks. Matt Olson getting thrown out trying to stretch a single into a double right before Marcell Ozuna homers. 

Are there things to figure out for this Braves team? There absolutely is...but these players are too good to not figure it out. This isn’t going to continue for the entire season, no matter how likely it feels in the moment, right now, while you’re living it. 

COMMENTS

  1. The Guilt Trip

    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 ...

  2. The Guilt Trip

    The Guilt Trip - review. Philip French. Sat 9 Mar 2013 19.03 EST. A merica has rarely seemed as dreary as this cross-country road movie from New Jersey to San Francisco in which unmarried son ...

  3. Spoiler Discussion and Plot Summary for the Guilt Trip

    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.

  4. The Guilt Trip (film)

    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 ...

  5. 'The Guilt Trip,' With Barbra Streisand and Seth Rogen

    The Guilt Trip. Directed by Anne Fletcher. Comedy, Drama. PG-13. 1h 35m. By Stephen Holden. Dec. 18, 2012. Contrary to what the title and casting might suggest, the Barbra Streisand-Seth Rogen ...

  6. Review: The Guilt Trip

    In The Guilt Trip, when Andy (Seth Rogen) asks his mother, Joyce (Barbra Streisand), if she wants to join him on a cross-country business trip, she responds, "You want to drive cross-country in a car with me?"A comparable skepticism could be fired at the movie itself, as spending 95 minutes in close filmic quarters with Rogen and Streisand hardly sounds like smooth sailing.

  7. The Guilt Trip Review

    The run time is only a touch over 90 minutes, but it feels longer. Again, that's because you know where it's headed, and you want to hurry up and get there. There's also not enough of the ...

  8. The Guilt Trip

    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 ...

  9. The Guilt Trip (Film)

    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.

  10. Review: 'The Guilt Trip' An Underdeveloped, Clichéd ...

    Instead, "The Guilt Trip" goes down the path most traveled, indulging in a series of well-worn clichés and devoting a minimal amount of time to character development or actual conflict.

  11. The Guilt Trip (2012)

    The Guilt Trip: Directed by Anne Fletcher. With Barbra Streisand, Seth Rogen, Julene Renee, Zabryna Guevara. 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.

  12. The Guilt Trip

    Rated: 2/5 • Feb 9, 2019. Aug 21, 2018. Before embarking on a once-in-a-lifetime road trip, Andy Brewster pays a visit to his overbearing mother, Joyce. That proves to be a big mistake; Andy ...

  13. The Guilt Trip Movie Review

    Our review: Parents say ( 6 ): Kids say ( 10 ): This is the kind of blandly entertaining comedy you might stream or catch if it's on TV while you're folding laundry, but unless you're a die-hard Babs fan, The Guilt Trip is far from a must-see. There are some occasionally amusing sequences in this formulaic comedy -- like the bizarre humor of ...

  14. The Guilt Trip: How to Deal with This Manipulation

    What is a guilt trip? "A guilt trip is best defined as the intentional manipulation of another person's emotions to induce feelings of guilt," explains Liza Gold, a social worker and founder ...

  15. Guilt Tripping: How To Recognize It + Respond

    Birkel adds that guilt tripping also doesn't require the same vulnerability as directly sharing your hurt and how you're feeling. "It's shaming the other person, making comments that make the other person feel bad, sort of blaming and attacking—and so in that way, I don't think there's ever an appropriate or OK situation to guilt trip.

  16. Detailed Review Summary of The Guilt Trip

    Opinion about the main character: Andy is a guy who means very well, and even when he's short-tempered with his mother, his love for her shines through. This is helped by Rogen's obvious affection for Streisand. The review of this Movie prepared by R.W. Hainline a Level 29 Superb Fruit-Dove scholar. Seth Rogen plays Andy Brewster, a chemist who ...

  17. The Psychology of the Guilt-Tripper

    Guilt-tripping is a form of unconscious emotional blackmail whereby the guilt-tripper feels entitled and innocent of any misdeed. Lack of awareness of self or others fuels the narcissistic ...

  18. The Guilt Trip (2012)

    The Guilt Trip - No One Wants That on TV: Andy (Seth Rogen) pitches his product to the Home Shopping Network.BUY THE MOVIE: https://www.fandangonow.com/detai...

  19. Watch: First Trailer For 'The Guilt Trip' Starring Seth ...

    Watch: First Trailer For 'The Guilt Trip' Starring Seth Rogen & Barbra Streisand. By Kevin Jagernauth. October 3, 2012 12:23 pm. "This is definitely a story about a guy trying not to be really ...

  20. The Guilty movie review & film summary (2021)

    The breakneck pace of this thriller picks up when Joe gets a call from a terrified woman named Emily ( Riley Keough, giving an absolutely phenomenal voice performance). She's in trouble but can't exactly say why, so Joe leads her through a series of yes and no questions. He figures out she's in a very bad situation, and he soon gets ...

  21. Guilt Trip: Definition, Signs, Types, and How to Cope

    Guilt trips can be intentional, but they can also be unintentional. There are chances that you have even guilt-tripped people into doing things before. Sometimes guilt tripping behavior can be easy to spot, but it can also be much more subtle and difficult to detect. Some key signs that others may be guilt-tripping you include: Making comments ...

  22. The Guilt Trip (2012)

    Financial analysis of The Guilt Trip (2012) including budget, domestic and international box office gross, DVD and Blu-ray sales reports, total earnings and profitability.

  23. Watch The Guilt Trip

    Andy and his mom Joyce both have emotional baggage to carry on an impromptu cross-country road trip. The good news is that they also have each other. Watch trailers & learn more.

  24. The Guilt Trip (film)

    The film is based on a real-life trip by screenwriter Fogelman and his mother from New Jersey to Las Vegas years before. The film completed production in late spring or early summer (May-July) 2011 under the working title My Mother's Curse. In late 2011, the film was renamed The Guilt Trip. It was released December 19, 2012.

  25. Guilt series three review

    They have made Guilt's trip around Edinburgh's dark corners a rare thrill. Guilt is available on BBC iPlayer and airs on BBC Two in the UK from 27 April, with an Australian screening date to ...

  26. The Guilt Trip (2012) Movie

    The Guilt Trip. 2012. PG13 CC. Paramount Pictures English 1h 36m. movie. (82) Cast Barbra Streisand, Seth Rogen, Brett Cullen, Nora Dunn, Ari Graynor, Colin Hanks, Kathy Najimy, Danny Pudi, Adam Scott, Yvonne Strahovski. Director Anne Fletcher. As inventor Andy Brewster is about to embark on the road trip of a lifetime, a quick stop at his mom ...

  27. The Guilt Trip

    The Guilt Trip - Watch Full Movie on Paramount Plus. COMEDY 2012 PG-13 1H 35M. TRY IT FREE. Trailer. 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. As inventor Andy Brewster is about to embark on the road trip ...

  28. AITA for refusing a shot at a hotel bar from a stranger?

    On the last night of the trip my boss and a couple colleagues went down to the hotel bar to have a couple drinks and discuss the trip. We had been there for about an hour when the bartender comes ...

  29. Braves Hope to Solve Offensive Woes Versus Stout Boston Pitching Staff

    Kutter Crawford's been excellent with his new pitch mix. Crawford's leading all Boston starters with a 1.56 ERA, having allowed only nine runs (seven earned) in hs first seven starts and 40.1 ...

  30. COLUMN: Braves Fans Shouldn't Panic After That Road Trip

    Lindsay Crosby. 1 minute ago. The Atlanta Braves stumbled last week. The Braves went 1-5 on their most recent road trip, a swing across the West Coast, only winning one game against the Seattle ...