Man of the House

There used to be a time when Chevy Chase was regarded to as a funny man. He used to be on an intelligent and extremely hilarious skit show started in 1975 called "Saturday Night Live," but soon left to chase after a film career.

Well, it's about twenty years later, and where is Chevy? Well, after a few hilarious "National Lampoon's Vacation" films, he's basically nowhere. He was funny in the seemingly endless line of movies (in general) for a while, but soon people tired of his smart-@$$ attitude that made him so famous, and they, his humble audience, turned on him, beginning to despise the poor fellow. Well, I can't really find it hard to feel sorry for him, because he probably still has more money than you or I will ever make in our lifetime.

The plot of "Man of the House" is less than a simple and contrived one. It is about 12-year-old Ben Archer (Jonathan Taylor Thomas) and his efforts to rid his house of the man who wants to marry his mom and become his stepfather. The man? Jack Sturgess (Chevy Chase). The mom? Sandra (Farah Fawcett--whose leakier than a faucet here). Jack is a tie-wearing, U.S. Justice Department lawyer who's got one angry Mafia boss on his tail because of a racketeering case he prosecuted. As the film turns out (big gasp), Ben and Jack work together at the end to save the day, and Ben thinks of Jack as a cool nerd. But what about the in-between process, you ask?

Ben makes an assortment of traps to try and get Jack to leave. He rigs the blender. He makes fun of him. He verbally insults him and makes digs at him. I ask myself what Disney is trying to prove here: That kids are smarter than stupid adults, or that kids have wittier one-liners than adults?

But Jack stays around (much to the disappointment of Ben), who keeps on working at Jack to make him leave. He eventually makes Jack sign into a boy-scout-type program, where he nicknames Jack "Squatting Dog." This is the best laugh in the movie. If you don't find that funny, like me, then you had better run from this movie, because that is one of many unfunny gags that try to be funny and end up in the gutter.

The film is anchored in every way towards children, but I ask myself if children really should be seeing a film like this. In "The Parent Trap," two twins formed together to bring their parents back together. In "Man of the House," a twelve-year-old single-handedly tries to rid a man from his and his mother's life. Choose your pick on which film is morally-harmless and which is morally-harmful. Times are changing, and that means films that were once provocative are not anymore. Divorce in films--especially children's films--used to be a big topic. But nowadays it seems because of the countless divorces out there, kids are immune to such things. But Disney is making it worse. They rub it in and open children's minds to things they need not worry about. If you take your child to see this, the next time you argue with your wife or husband your child could misinterpret this as divorce, because through films like these divorce is shown as arguing between parents who then break up. "Man of the House" isn't about divorce per se, but it is about something worse: The times proceeding a divorce. About parents dating again. Sorry, but I don't find this kind of thing suitable for innocent children. Kids don't need to be thinking about their parents dating people, but yet films manage to squeeze such material into countless films, whether they are funny ("Sleepless in Seattle") or not ("Man of the House"). I don't have a problem with "Sleepless..." because it isn't really a children's film, but when you take a children's film and center it ENTIRELY on split couples dating again, children start to think about things they need not worry about. Six-year-olds shouldn't be thinking about dating yet, much less their parents dating.

The laughs, if you can count them as such, come mostly from George Wendt (``Cheers' '' beloved Norm) and former Cirque du Soleil clown David Shiner.

Wendt as an Indian Guides chief is the comic treat of the film -- he's a real live wire who packs a lot of heart into a surprisingly agile comic style. If you have read this far and STILL believe this film is for you, then George Wendt's performance can be added to your "why-to-see-the-film" list, because he is, truthfully, the only compelling reason to see this film.

In the end, "Man of the House" is a politically-correct comic vehicle that forgot about the script and the laughs. To Disney, kids during times like these should be thinking of parents' divorces and parents' dating, because it's happening around the world as we speak, and children need films such as "Man of the House" so that they realize this is normal (for parents to divorce and date again).

To me, films like "Man of the House" are reasons that divorce and single parents dating is becoming more normal and unshameful in today's culture. It's a paradox, really. Films like these are made because of times like these, when, in fact, times like these are here in the first place because of the films and media that are made to suit to the times we live in.

1/5 stars -

John Ulmer

I think it's a very sweet film.

Another Disney film from the 1990s that I and other reviewers evidently disagree on; an average rating of 2.2 on Letterboxd is very harsh, in my opinion. I found it charming and suitably acted.

I assume the major dislike of this film is the secondary plot featuring Joey (Richard Portnow) & Co., which I would agree is unimaginative and ill-fitting. However, that doesn't affect my overall feelings. Potentially - if anything, it mentions a few times the negative depictions; somewhat surprisingly, for a 1995 release anyway.

The story between Ben (Jonathan Taylor Thomas), Jack (Chevy Chase) and Sandy (Farrah Fawcett) is nice. It's simple, but it's one that works extremely well - I felt attached to them, they have good chemistry with each other.

There's not much more to be said. I truly did enjoy 'Man of the House'.

I watched this today for the first time in years. As a kid during the 90s, I loved this flick. My best friend and I had a HUGE crush on JTT. As an adult, I think the movie is pretty cute but it brings back memories of being a nine year old laughing my butt off and going home looking through my Teen Beat magazine. This movie needs to be appreciated for the 90s movie it was. It's unfortunate people who cry about cultural appropriation try to ruin it for those of us who loved it as kids.

I'm just now watching this on TV, and find it an enjoyable but fairly standard Disney type plot, with the usual misunderstandings based on lack of communication. Eventually justice will triumph, I'm sure, with all the usual civilian-vs-bad-guy showdown and broken-relationships-cemented stereotypes, still enjoyable to watch in each new screenplay. I mainly wanted to comment on a cute cameo that I didn't find mentioned anywhere. At the very beginning of the film, establishing the relationship of Farah Fawcett and her son, he mentions how she dated a few guys but they were all losers. They show a few seconds of one of these dates, with the fellow clowning around at the beach. If you watch closely you will see it is Ryan O'Neal!

Say what you want about Chevy Chase. He may be a jerk in real life, he may have made very poor career choices in the early 90's but regardless of these issues why do most people forget that during the late 70's and all the way through the 80's he made truly great comedic films?

Starting with Foul Play in 1978, which was a great film, he started the 80's off strong and aside from a few bombs remained a consistently funny guy in great movies for the decade. Caddyshack, Seems like Old Times two great National Lampoon's Vacation films aside from European Vacation which I disliked and I liked Vegas Vacation but am omitting it here as it came out in 1997, then he went on to Fletch, Three Amigos and Funny Farm his most underrated and in my opinion best film after Vacation #1. All great movies all hold up really well today.

Then Chevy kept rolling in the 90's but audiences didnt want to follow him on his journey. He joined his good friend Dan Aykroyd starting off the 90's with the bomb Nothing But Trouble, Memoirs of an Invisible Man followed the next year and then his biggest travesty was his horrible and horribly panned late night talk show on Fox which was cancelled after one season.

1994 was another weak year for him with Cops and Robbersons. Chevy did however find a bit of grace and audiences warming up to him a little bit with this 1995 flick, it was his only true hit of the 90's along with the aforementioned Vegas Vacation.

Now I am not here to convince you this is a great film in the same league with his great aforementioned 70s and 80s films. It really has the feel of a TV movie.

But this is a fun film for kids nonetheless. Chevy and Farrah Fawcett (who was mostly a time capsule sex symbol from the 70's by this point) have good chemistry and he may not have the same chemistry he did with Tim Allen on Home Improvement but Chevy and Jonathan Taylor Thomas play off of each other well here.

This was a kids movie and was always intended to be. For a 90's kids movie Nostalgia trip its a lot of fun. But it's not Chevy at his very best and I think even his fans knew when the 90's came his movies were just not going to be as good as they were in the previous decades. Similar case with director Francis Ford Coppola. He may have had a few hits in the 80's and 90's but would never make anything as good again as the first two Godfathers and Apocalypse Now.

If you like Chase or any of the other cast members (George Wendt, Norm from Cheers is good here in a supporting role), it is worth a watch.

It's no classic but it's a fun 90's movie that proves Chase can make worthy movies with the right script, direction and cast. He also plays it fairly straight here, so if you got tired of his sarcasm and wisecracks in trh 70's and 80's you might really like this film a lot.