Fathers' Day

There are times when the critics crucify a movie and those who star in it, with no justification. I ignore critics completely because I know what I like. I find it particularly offensive when unjust criticism is levelled at young performers at the start of a career. For this reason I shall begin by mentioning Charlie Hofheimer's role in the film. This was his biggest part to date and brother it must have been hard. He had to play a straight role with no comic lines between the two old hands, Robin Williams and Billy Crystal who obviously ad-libbed from beginning to end. It is of enormous credit to him that he managed to keep a straight face at all. His character was a spoiled teenager who was at various times in love, in a drunken stupor, on the run from criminals and suddenly confused about who his father was. I fail to see how he could have carried this part off better than he did. Add to this the fact that at 15/16 Charlie was undoubtedly one of the most handsome young men in America.

Williams with his extravagant style and Crystal with the more subtle approach provided the perfect foil for each other. So the comedy flowed. Nor did all of the best comic moments happen when these two were involved. The third father's rescue mission was hilarious.

There was also a fair amount of pathos running through the film which made it into just the kind of happy/ sad mixture that I love.This was no Oscar nomination, but good, clean, harmless fun. Enjoy!

"Fathers' Day" seems to pride itself in its two main stars, Billy Crystal and Robin Williams. This is more of a film made out of vain then for comedic purposes. It is for the crowds out there who have been waiting for Billy Crystal and Robin Williams to star together in lead roles, almost like the fans of "Freddy vs. Jason" have been waiting for their heroes to duke it out. This movie combines two big stars, and the amazing thing is that it actually gets away with it.

Yes, "Fathers' Day" isn't all that great, and no, I didn't love it, but sue me: I enjoyed it. Is it too much to ask from a comedy that it simply entertain me, give me a few laughs? Films like "The Hot Chick" can't even manage to do this, but "Fathers' Day" pulls it off. Why? Maybe because it is so fun watching Crystal and Williams interact. They bring a dead script to life. I must admit that given a better script their pairing could have made for one of the funniest films of the year, but the screenplay for this movie is dead in the water. Crystal and Williams do their best and make it amusing, but it could have been so much more. When a film resorts to showing Robin Williams doing impersonations in front of a mirror for the umpteenth time, you know that the script isn't all it could and should have been.

And this is pretty strange, because Babaloo Mandez and Lowell Ganz are usually trustworthy to deliver an amusing and hysterical script. These are the men responsible for one of my favorite comedies in recent years, "City Slickers," and their script for "Fathers' Day" just sinks to predictability, sappiness and sterotypes.

Get this: Crystal plays an ambitious lawyer who gets a call from an ex-girlfriend he went out with 17 years earlier. She tells him that her sixteen-year-old son has run away from home, that he is the father, and that he must help retrieve the boy. She gives him a photo of the boy (who looks like the typical teenage snot named Scott), and touched by her story for whatever reason he agrees to find the boy.

Problem no. 1. Crystal is a lawyer. At the end of the film, he is lied to and knows this. His wife (Julia Louis-Dreyfuss) asks how he knows. He says, "I'm a lawyer, people lie to me all the time." If he is such a brilliant lawyer, why did he not look past his ex-girlfriend's little lie? Don't know, don't care - it is part of the film and what can you do?

And get this: Crystal's ex happens to be Williams' ex, too. She tells Williams the exact same story as Crystal, hoping to get at least one of them to find the boy. They both try. We know they will accidentally meet looking for him, there will be confusion, the boy will not be grateful for their helping him out until the very end, and so on and so forth.

But this movie entertained me. Crystal and Williams have good chemistry, even if a good script could have made their interaction a bit more. The jokes do fall flat at times, but the direction is nice (Ivan "Ghostbusters" Reitman), and to be honest, I had fun watching this movie. That's all I really ask for in some comedies.

(Also note a cameo by Mel Gibson, who dropped by the set during filming of "Lethal Weapon 4" at Warner Bros.!)

3/5 stars -

John Ulmer

I just glanced at the title in the TV listing.. and for some reason read it as "Father of the Bride".. so I taped it. When I glanced at the listing again realized I was wrong and couldn't quite place it. When I came here to look it up, I realized WHY I forgot it.. If any movie with so much comic talent was ever FORGETABLE, this is it.

Perhaps, the producers should have gone the whole nine yards and cast Whoopee Goldberg as the scheming mom.. that would have made the circle complete.. but Whoopee had already made that film - with Ted Danson. And it was a lot funnier.

TO be fair, a lot of the dissatisfaction with the film is due exactly to Billy and Robin being featured. We expect more from them and, when the writing doesn't support the capabilities of the actors, the results are exactly what we see here: Mediocre schlock.

Since Reitman was the director, that lit a (Ghostbusters) bulb; I can see Bill Murray and Dan Ackroyd doing a better job with it.. or even Harold Ramis and Rick Moranis.

When you put together the talents of Robin Williams and Billy Crystal, you bet your life people are gonna expect big things. I myself expected big things. The movie doesn't deliver on all levels. There are some badly written gags and lame dialogue ("He's having some problems with his testicles"). But throughout 80 % of the movie I was entertained and got a fair share of laughs. Naturally, Billy and Robin have incredible chemistry and I'm sure a lot of their stuff was ad-libbed. They just could've used a better script. Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel wrote the great comedy "Mr. Saturday Night," so I did expect better from them. The two guys don't always seem secure with the material, and rightfully so, like with that lame running gag about "the whirl."

Nevertheless, "Fathers' Day" is a delightful comedy and it definitely has its moments. Some won't be as satisfied as others, but I myself was satisfied.

My score: 7 (out of 10)

When do they stop americanizing Francis Veber productions? Again a good example for a remake that is much worse than the original: over-psychologized, killing one gag after the other - the charming elements are left out to not make the film exactly the same, and nothing is left. I like Billy Crystal and I bear Robin Williams but they are not equal to Gérard Depardieu and Pierre Richard. One day - I see it with horror - they're going to re-produce Louis de Funès-classics starring Jim Carrey!