Father and Scout

I happened to pick this film up at my local Blockbuster one weekend and was surprised because it was not bad. The story involves a paranoid author named Spenser Paley (Bob Saget, who I believe filmed this in his second to last season of "Full House".) Saget has not been spending to much time with his son (Brian Bosnall, form Family Ties. When Bosnall gets invited to go on a camping trip with his school Saget does nothing but ruin it by complaining. His companion is Stuart Pankin (who played the sheriff in Arachnophbia.) His enemy is David Graf (Who played Sam in The Brady Bunch Movie.) I loved Bob Saget growing up on Full House so it is not too surprising I enjoyed it. I will warn you however there are many corny jokes and if you are not a Saget fan stay away from it. Otherwise enjoy the show! Rated PG for some vulgarity and violence.

Sagot did a good impression of a working father that is inept when it comes to the great outdoors. His character will make you laugh at times also, whenever he makes remarks about the condition of the camp. The Story was OK, however it isn't anything new, but I guess it won't confuse you either. Kids may or may not find it funny, it really depends on them, and if they know Bob Sagot. I found it interesting, but not amazing. Definitely something to watch if your looking for something that has a few laughs and an OK story. All in all, it was good and it isn't to long, so you don't lose anything by watching it - well except about 1 hour and 45 minutes.

Spencer (Bob Saget) is a writer and happily married, with one son, Michael (Brian Bonsall). He spends time with Michael, going to his soccer games and taking him to movies and has a fine relationship with his son. However, his wife Heidi, although she confirms he is a good dad, would prefer Spence do a few "manly' things as well, such as going camping. A perfect opportunity arrives when the school's sixth grade boys are all taking part in a camping trip to Catalina island. Reluctantly, Spencer agrees to take Michael. From the ferry ride across, Spencer meets a variety of other parents and kids. This includes an obnoxious firefighter whose "macho" attitude criticizes Spencer's jokes and complaints. Once there, the food is less than palatable, the cots somewhat uncomfortable and the activities, such as archery, challenging for Spencer and Michael. Worst of all is a cave exploration, for Spencer has claustrophobia. Yet, it is important, for a treasure hunt there will follow. Will Michael be proud of his dad or chagrined to the max? This "fish out of water" trip between father and son is typical but still quite enjoyable. Since this viewer bought the film for a dollar, even more so. Most families will enjoy the acting, sets, and funny lines. Enough said?

Brian Bonsall is a smart actor, but that's that. I have seen this one a few years ago. I remember it having been a more or less average movie. The story was basically good, but the actual transformation on screen was fairly simple and did not match the quality I look for in father-son stories, which belong to my favorites in general. Brian was still decent; he made me watch through the whole movie. I wonder if they could have made a better movie if they'd cast a different guy as his dad. This part was thoroughly miscast. Bob Saget did not fit in here at all, he hampered the advance of the movie's storyline and screwed up the emotional aspect that was subtly addressed.

Since Bob Saget passed away five months ago, I remember watching this when I was younger and enjoying it quite a bit.

I did a random YouTube search after the announcement of his death to see what was available on this movie and surprisingly the whole film is now available to view on YouTube in one part for free.

Wanting to see if it held up I rewatched. Some of the jokes from Saget are still pretty funny and considering this is a low budget family TV movie they got a pretty impressive cast including Saget, David Graf from the Police Academy franchise, Stuart Pankin from Fatal Attraction, Troy Evans from Ace Ventura Pet Detective Heidi Swedberg from Seinfeld, and Brian Bonsall from Family Ties and Brian Levinson from Matilda.

But in spite of a couple of laughs and a pretty impressive cast, the movie has a couple big flaws.

For starters most of the adults with the slight exception of Evans as the Scoutmaster and Pankin somewhat are pretty unlikeable people and we have to start off with the most unlikeable of them all, none other than the main star himself Bob Saget.

As a kid I thought Saget's character was pretty funny with all of his sarcastic wisecracks. As an adult some of them are still funny but the problem with Saget's character is that he is a complaining jerk who puts everyone and everything down.

Even the character of the enemy played by Graf I can sympathize with a bit more. Yeah he is an arrogant jerk and not someone who I would ideally want to spend time with but you can understand why he hates Saget and antagonizes him.

He tries even being nice to Saget but he just responds by being a sarcastic jerk.

Saget's role here seems like the kind of part Woody Allen or Albert Brooks would have played very early in their careers, but both of those guys in comparison would probably be able to squeeze a tiny ounce of likeability into a character like this.

Bonsall as the son is probably the most likeable character in the movie though he constantly whines that his dad is embarrassing him that at some points he is almost as annoying as Saget. It's also rather concerning that the kid character is more likeable and level headed than any of the adults.

Saget does become more likeable at the end but by then he has been such a jerk the whole movie that it is hard to accept him as such.

Some of the writing is also pretty bad with a lot of plot holes and things that dont make sense.

I am not expecting an Oscar win for Best Original Screenplay this is just a TV movie after all but surely the writers could have paid more attention to some details and have their script make more sense. Even some Full House episodes are written with more cleverness and wit than this.

If you liked Saget on Full House, this is probably worth one rewatch for nostalgia, but dont expect anything great.

If the characters were more likeable and logical and if the writing were a bit more sharp I think this would hold up better.

As it stands it's not a bad movie but a very middling one especially by made for TV standards.

Worth a watch for Saget, the cast and some funny lines but unlike reruns of Full House this will not have you wanting to do a repeat view. There is definitely a lot worse out there in terms of TV family movies, but there is also a lot better.