Getrennte Wege

Spare yourself the pretension on this one.

You'll know in the first couple of minutes - when there is an excruciatingly tedious camera pan thru the home set to a soap-opera-worthy piano accompaniment - that it's not gonna be good; ever heard the term "engaging"? Well this one's the antonym.

Goldblum's basically just playing Goldblum, still again.

It's so bad there are frequent character voice overs - underscored by a sparring saxophone and oboe trills - to make sure to explain to you how "sensitive" these male characters all are in their inner most thoughts.

Of course, since it is basically a male story, and most of the main male characters are wusses, in all male bonding moments - in bars and all, don't you know - they start completely unnecessarily swearing and spewing sexually disparaging language like he-man sailors, or at least the probably solidly suburban-bred scriptwriters' idea of such - while jovially slapping street guys heartily on the back, but not too hard.

It's all awful - the story is ridiculous, the acting is SOOO self-aware, the script is painfully stilted - it's all just awful.

Spoilers? Why bother, the whole's thing's just rancid.

So, guess what, I don't recommend this one. Lol :-)

Where I am there are several cable TV channels showing 24 hours of movies; the majority of the movies shown are total rubbish, which to the torture of prospective viewers are repeated ad nauseam. This movie is high up on the rubbish list. The opening scene is a dorky son talking to himself and then the dorkier father doing the same.And talking nonsense at that. After half an hour of complex plots and sub-plots,going no-where except into confusion, plus a half-hearted and artificial 'make it up as I go along' bunch of ham actors, a script that has hardly any semblance of reality, I switched this garbage off. Who on earth in their right mind would finance drivel like this???!!!! 1 out of 10.

With Jeff Goldblum being the star I thought this was going to be a dark murder mystery but I was very disappointed with this movie. I don't know if the movie tried to be a moral movie about don't do drugs, talk to your parents if you have something bad on your mind, or a murder mystery? Why was other top notch actors such as Samuel L. Jackson, John C. McGinley, and Famke Janssen used in the film? McGinley was uncredited and I don't know why? What was really the purpose of having Rosanna Arquette as the psychic? All four had such short roles in the film. Through out the beginning is all there was the big talk about the chew and didn't find out what the chew is until the middle. I really don't know what I watched. Jeff Goldblum performed very well. If you must watch this movie prepare for a hundred minute boring fest! If you are not sure about renting the film or not don't let the box fool you! Avoid it no matter what you do! Though if you want to see another Goldblum movie however watch the superior Mister Frost!

While the film's heart is in the right place, the producers should have spent more time in the editing room. If you're a Jersey shore fan, you might wanna see this flick about damaged relationships, broken dreams, and a serial killer terrorizing a small beach community. For Michael Disend (Clown in Babylon, A (1999)) fans, this is his first film, and a must!

You pick up the video box of "Fathers and Sons" and what do you see? The names Jeff Goldblum, Rosanna Arquette, Famke Janssen, Samuel Jackson on the cover, and a plot description that vaguely mentions a serial killer and something about psychic powers. And then you see the film and what do you get? An anti-drug/coming-of-age/father-and-son-relationship drama, where the killer/"psychic powers" plot angle seems to be an afterthought, and is resolved in a ludicrous "thriller" climax. The movie does have its pluses: good-looking cinematography, some offbeat touches, a fairly good performance by the kid, the interest of seeing a very beautiful pre-"Goldeneye" Famke Janssen in her first movie role. But mostly it's slow, meandering and blah, and apart from Goldblum (who is the lead) all the other actors I mentioned above are wasted in throwaway roles. (**)