Get a Life: Roots (1991)

Synopsis of Get a Life: Roots

The trouble starts when Chris (Chris Elliott) and his best friend, Larry (Sam Robards), are going through a box of memorabilia in the attic, because Larry has bet Chris that it was the Beatles, and not Peter & Gordon, that recorded "Hey Jude." Chris comes across a photo of himself as an infant, in the arms of an Amish couple. Along with the photo is a receipt, which Chris thinks is for a 10,000-dollar payment for a baby boy named Emmett. Chris immediately leaps to the conclusion that his parents, Fred (Bob Elliott) and Gladys (Elinor Donahue), bought him from the Amish couple. He confronts his confused parents about it, and when Fred points out their physical resemblance, Chris whines, "It's obvious that you've had extensive plastic surgery to make yourself look more like me." Chris, now calling himself "Emmett," then leaves to find his "real" parents. He takes a circuitous route to Pennsylvania Dutch Country, where he barges in on the confused Amish couple, Jedidiah (Steven Gilborn) and Marta (Elsa Raven), and tells them he's moving back "home." Frightened, they try to humor Chris, letting him stay, and Chris tries to adjust to their old-fashioned ways. When Fred and Gladys show up the next day, anxious to clear up the confusion, Chris chides them. "We are simple people, and we shun the ways of your people, with your pre-sweetened cereals, and your silent dog whistles," he tells Fred. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi

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