A thief's son cons his father into spending more time with him.A thief's son cons his father into spending more time with him.A thief's son cons his father into spending more time with him.
- Awards
- 2 nominations total
- Armored Car Driver
- (as Danny Hunter)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Featured reviews
*1/2
Awful story about a smart-a$$ed kid (Macaulay Culkin) who goes to live with his crook of a father (Ted Danson) and ends up stealing his father's (and accomplices') stash of money they've stolen from a bank. He promises to give it back if his dad hangs out with him and treats him like most sons.
There's a lot of feuding between father and son in this dismal and unfortunate tale that tries to prove kids are smarter than their parents and can control them with a bit of blackmail. If this movie had been released thirty years ago...I can only imagine what parents would have done to the copies.
Besides, apart from the stupid message of the film, it's just a bad movie. Macaulay Culkin has finally outgrown his childhood and for once the critics started to notice he couldn't act (like he ever could! He got lucky with "Home Alone"--it was good because of Pesci and the rest of the cast, not him). Danson is equally annoying in the role of his father, who seems to have been born without a personality. Yes, Danson is very watered down in this movie. To be honest, I don't blame him--this is the type of stuff that belongs on made-for-TV movies. You know your career has hit rock-bottom when you're in something like this.
And just think, this was made somewhere around ten years ago.
What a disaster.
* / *****
The basic theme of the movie is blackmail, Culkin finds no other way to reason with his father on pulling off a coin heist, in which he sees it ending only one way. Alongside Danson and Culkin we have some great supporting characters, Rays (Ted Danson) two cronies Bobby and Carl played by Saul Rubinek and Gailard Sartain. Saul Rubinek adds some humour to what is mostly perceived as an emotional drama from my perspective. Where Getting Even with Dad struggles is sometimes in the pacing and also not fully sure of what it wants to be. It crosses genre without really settling on something concrete, this isn't a bad thing it just means it comes across of being not fully aware of the message it's trying to convey.
If you just watch this is a lighthearted mood and accept it for what it is you'll enjoy it yet if you are looking for something with a little more depth and meaning then you'll probably find you are on the side of the disappointed.
Did you know
- TriviaSaul Rubinek was really hit in the nose with a bat during the scene where he falls down the stairs at the stadium. Since Rubinek was caught off guard, his reaction gave the scene a more realistic look. The director, not thinking twice, decided to leave it in the final cut.
- GoofsThe list of coins shown in the printout during the opening credits are relatively common coins and as described with major flaws, would be a collection worth only a few thousand dollars-a far cry from the $1.5 million used in the story line. The $20 gold piece shown in closeup during the credits is far from an in-circulated example, so it is a coin worth little more than the price of an ounce of gold. Also, if they removed the coins from their new PCGS holders and sold them "raw", whatever their value, they would be worth substantially less than as "certified" in their holders.
- Quotes
[Ray's decorating a cake]
Carl: You know, Ray. Your like an artist
[starts eating some of the cake Ray's working on]
Carl: , just like that Diangelo guy.
[grabs another piece off]
Ray Gleason: You mean, Michaelangelo?
Carl: Yeah, that's him. But instead of paint/plaster, you decorate cakes.
Ray Gleason: [suddenly sees Carl eating the cake] Did you just take that off the cake?
Carl: [looks guilty]
Ray Gleason: Don't do that! You know how long I've worked on this cake?
[Ray looks away to check on Bobby. While doing so, Carl grabs another icing chunk off the cake, but Ray catches him]
Ray Gleason: Did you just poke the cake again?
Carl: [looks guilty]
Ray Gleason: Go stand over there next to Bobby!
- ConnectionsEdited into The Green Fog (2017)
- SoundtracksMoney (That's What I Want)
Written by Berry Gordy and Janie Bradford
Performed by Barrett Strong
Courtesy of Motown Record Company, L.P.
- How long is Getting Even with Dad?Powered by Alexa
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $30,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $18,869,594
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $5,579,480
- Jun 19, 1994
- Gross worldwide
- $18,869,594