Ich brauche einen Erben

I was watching a marathon of National Lampoon vacation flix, and I instantly thought of this movie when I thought of Beverly D'Angelo. She's done many, many memorable movies over the years. Hair, the John Candy flick Summer Rental, and this one are standouts. Suburban Mom roles for Beverly. Odd, but she does it well.

This movie is all about Beverly, and Burt allows it. Which I think is very cool. Because she excels in the role. About as serious as an 80's RomCom can stand to be.

This is one of Burt Reynolds best from the 80's. Also starring Beverly D'Angelo in one of her best comedic roles, "Paternity" is a very funny, warm movie that is 20 years old. Burt is having a mid-life crisis and decides that he wants a son, but being the solid bachelor that he is, doesn't want a wife to go along. He decides to pay Beverly $50,000 to be his surrogate mother and have his son. A lot of funny moments and a great cast of co-stars make this a movie that you can watch over and over again. Interestingly enough, while watching this film I was having a paternity test done by www.dnacenter.com to find out who the real father of my baby was (I know, pretty crazy - eh?). Needless to say, it wasn't Burt's. :)

Burt Reynolds loves kids. Well after the opening of the film, we get a cringe-like song to listen to while us watch how Reynolds' character connects with children and how much they like him. Even Peter Billingsley (of "A Christmas Story" fame) digs him. The tagline spells out the story "He wants you to have his baby!" New York's most eligible playboy bachelor has just turned 44 and wants to have a child to fill the void in his life, but doesn't want to marry. So he decides to go about trying to find a surrogate mother, where he comes across a waitress who needs the money and doesn't want to be emotionally involved. So the two strikes up a no strings attached agreement, but soon enough they begin to fall for each other. Quite a predictable, but charmingly fashionable and playful old-fashion romantic comedy with a breezy performance by Burt Reynolds and a heart filled turn from Beverly D'Angelo. Even the support cast featuring Norman Fell, Paul Dooley, Lauren Hutton, Elizabeth Ashley and Juanita Moore shape up rather well. Reynolds' clueless character has some rather amusing scenes and complications, especially those when he is searching for his surrogate mother and then of course when he bumps into the ex-girlfriends. Light-hearted entertainment with very good performances.

"I'm a lawyer. Not a pimp."

The bright spots in this movie are Elizabeth Ashley and New York City itself. They both photograph great. Burt is very natural and it is always good to see old pros like Juanita Moore & Norman Fell do their thing. Unfortunately Burt and Beverly have absolutely no chemistry what so ever. Beverly delivers her lines like she is reading them for the first time. Can't say anything about Lauren Huttin who I usually like because I missed the first 20 minutes and thats obviously when she was in it. That about sums up this typical 80's over produced movie. Burt plays a New York city bachelor who wants a kid but not a wife. Beverly plays the lucky gal who will have his baby for cash without any emotional strings attached. Do they fall in love? What do you think?

Sometimes HBO will air the most random movies. I just watched "Paternity" again. I saw it back in the day and loved it then and now.

The story of a middle aged successful single bachelor who feels eomthing is missing in his life. He decides he wants a baby, but not a wife or girlfriend...just a baby. He hooks up with Maggie (Diangelo) who is a waitress who also plays the french horn saving for a trip to Paris. He offers her money to be the surrogate (not quite as common then as it is today) and she accepts. During the months that they are together while she's carrying the baby it's obvious to see that they are destined to fall in love, but while it may be predictable it is just very sweet.

Great chemistry between buddy and maggie (reynolds and diangelo).