Un père en cavale

"Father Hood" is an overlooked little gem of a "road movie". Fine performances by Halle Berry, Sabina Lloyd and Brian Bonsall, two really fun "over-the-top" ones by Diane Ladd and Michael Ironside,

and a downright outstanding one from Patrick Swayze. The movie is helped by an unconventional storyline, but badly undercut by it's flashback framing which results in a formulamatic, abrupt ending. "Father Hood" would have worked MUCH better without these "bookends". Nevertheless, the movie brings up important issues of "family responsibilities" and the consequences of state intervention. As long as the foster system rewards state institutions for NOT placing children, such abuses will exist.

Pick this one up. It's worth the "ride."

Patrick Swayze stars as a father who is lost to beer, woman and the bad boy life. One day, out of the blue, his children find him but are ripped away by the system. In typical character, after seeing his children handcuffed to a waist belt into the bus back to the home for disturbed children, Swayze decides enough is enough and hijacks the bus, which leads to a cannon ball run trek across America to New Orleans, where the next heist of money will get Swayze the good life.

On the way there, he starts to fall in love with his kids and helped by Halle Berry, the reporter who has tried to stop the home molesting children and billing for trips out with the kids that never really took place, Swayze has to decide whether he should take the money and run or look out for his new found family's interests.

I really enjoyed this film and recommend watching it, if you missed it back in '93, and the music played during the chases is soulful and funky throughout, which gelled nicely with the plot, especially the last track (wonderful one, if thats its name) which took me right to the end of the credits. I just hope in the next few years we get another version of 'Father Hood' and they stick to the northern soul tracks that blessed this version. Just please please please shut the blonde loud mouth kid up, his character played too well and was as annoying as he was paid to be!!!!!

Kelly and Eddie Charles wait the release of their father Jack (Patrick Swayze) along with journalist Kathleen Mercer (Halle Berry) that wants to cover the story. Once Jack is out, trouble follows because he doesn't get along well with his not-long seen kids and he can't even stand them, and they spent the majority of the movie escaping after Jack does some of his foolish things and after a while ends up arrested, tried, acquitted and released once again.

The main problem of this movie is that the main character is a jerk and there is no attempt to make him likeable or endearing in the least. He is always on the verge of exploding and behaves like a fool for most of the time, causing trouble to himself and those near him. The kids were actually likeable because they couldn't stand their dad (just like the audience) and this is the reason why I didn't gave it a lower score (along with the soundtrack that is bound to give lots of nostalgic 1990s vibes).

In substance, one of those films billed as family entertainment but that fails to accomplish this mention. A bad lead, various stupid moments that luckily I forgot... this might also account for why only 15 persons apart from me dared to review it.

Alright, so 'Father Hood' is not the perfect movie. There have been many of its kind. It isn't devoid of plot holes and is predictable. However, it's also an entertaining road movie about an ex-con, Jack, on the run with his kids (Sabrina Lloyd) who were treated harshly (their hands were cuffed and they were abused) in a detention center). The only person on their side is feisty journalist Kathleen Mercer (Halle Berry) who tries to convince Jack to give her an interview (providing information against the youth detention center) and she'll work out a deal for him so that his sentence is reduced. Jack also drops by his mother's (Diane Ladd) in Las Vegas.

Okay, so it's not anything new but that doesn't mean it can't be fun. Shot in a typical early 90's style, Darrell Roodt catches the cross country landscape effectively. The performances are good too. The late Patrick Swayze is brilliant as the reluctant dad. Sabrina Lloyd is cute and vivacious. Brian Bonsall can be annoying at times (but then again his character was a cliché). Halle Berry is charming in her limited screen time.

'Father Hood' holds some nostalgic value for me and it was nice to go back to memory lane for a while. The way to enjoy this one it to take it for what it is.

Siblings Kelly (Sabrina Lloyd) and Eddie Charles (Brian Bonsall) eagerly wait for the release of their father Jack Charles (Patrick Swayze) from prison along with Kathleen Mercer (Hallee Berry). Fifteen months earlier, Kelly escapes from the Dickensian Bigelow Hall. Jack is a petty criminal facing prison time. He robbed drug dealers until he robbed an uncover cop pretending to be a drug dealer. He's also waiting for a large deal to come in. With their mother dead, the kids were left in the foster system. Kelly tells Jack that Eddie is about to be placed in Bigelow Hall. After witnessing director Lazzaro lying to the court, Jack takes matters into his own hands and breaks Eddie out. Jack intends to leave the kids with his grifter mother Rita (Diane Ladd) but their case has become big news. Jack confronts Mercer for her flawed reporting but she's actually investigating the Hall for fraud.

The filmmaker may be attempting for comedy but there are no laughs to be had. This is a somewhat functional road movie of sorts. The little one is a bit annoying. Swayze is caught failing to be funny but his ample charms keep the movie from completely failing. This really doesn't work but the basic premise with Swayze almost works anyways.