Only the incomparable Richard Pryor could make a comedy as determinedly, aggressively sentimental as "Bustin' Loose," which is about eight needy orphans and a $15,000 mortgage that's due, and still get an R-rating. Vulgar language is the reason, but because vulgar language is a basic part of the Pryor comedy method, one longs for his every assault on genteelism in "Bustin' Loose," a film that would otherwise be painful….

[The film] is Mr. Pryor's somewhat obsequious attempt to capture the family audience, though I suspect there are plenty of family audiences who prefer him at his more obscene. This movie is a cheerfully hackneyed, B-picture vehicle …, based on his own original story. It's about a footloose parolee (Mr. Pryor) who is assigned to drive the eight displaced children and their pretty social worker-guardian (Cicely Tyson) from Philadelphia to a farm in the state of Washington, where the kids can...