Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

ActuallyGlimmer The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Fatma Suarez The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

moonspinner55 Middle-aged family man gets saddled with his old windbag of a father after Mom writes a telling letter saying she's leaving her husband because he has destroyed their marriage. Blaming her spouse for her lifelong unhappiness doesn't seem to phase Pop, however; he doesn't recognize his own personal failings, neither with his wife nor his children. This sets the scene for many conference calls between the couple's talkative daughters, while father and son hit the road for an unintended journey of rediscovery. They do all the typical father and son things after buying a beautiful vintage car they find sitting idle in a junk heap: fishing, drinking, pool-playing, bar-fighting, country line-dancing...they take in a local baseball game and even get picked up by a comely co-ed and her vivacious mother. Paul Reiser co-produced, wrote and stars in this anemic comedy-drama, an unfunny dirge putting family therapy in the hands of those directly responsible--and once everyone is heard, the healing can begin! Braying Peter Falk is angrily defensive over his behaviors of the past and refuses to take responsibility for the family ill-will, while son Reiser incredulously repeats back everything Pop says. It's an endless argument that goes around and around until father and son collapse on a country hill at night, underneath the stars while a plaintive guitar plucks in the background, and Dad tells his son he's really an OK guy. Some audiences may actually buy this--they may also allow the bar-fight scene wherein Falk defeats a rowdy tough who welshes on a bet (both bully and son get a hit to the groin, that old comedy stand-by). Reiser has an open face and a nervous, half-inquisitive smile that shows you he's listening but is also thinking about something else; he reminds one of Albert Brooks (or the young Sydney Pollack when he was an actor), though Reiser's exasperated takes are like leftovers gimmicks from sitcom-land. Falk, shouting at the sky, is simply a mouthpiece for the other side; Reiser tells him that, just maybe, he wasn't a very fair or attentive husband, which sends Dad over the edge. These scenes of discord don't build out of anything natural--they are only present to give the movie an angry argument--while Falk displays such out-of-control mania, he's tough to shake off when the picture's mood suddenly turns 'cute'. *1/2 from ****

arieliondotcom I'm disappointed that Reiser (who wrote the film) felt the need to use so much profanity for no reason whatsoever. Maybe that's his idea of "adult" films, plenty of nasty words with bathroom humor thrown in? I thought better of him and think less of him for this movie.Falk's acting and some moments of humor as well as some possibly important themes are what made me give it such a high rating.This might be a good movie for adult children to watch and laugh over about their own folks and their foibles. But the lack of consideration for audience families seriously detriments what could have been a family film but fails. Certainly not worth spending money on, though it might be worth a watch for free on television.

Paul Ward (pkward8) Who doesn't have unresolved issues with parents? And which parents don't have unresolved issues with each other?I know, that sounds heavy. But this is played for laughs in the movie, making both the comedy better and the drama better. I've always like Paul Reiser and Peter Falk, and although I was a bit concerned that their star qualities might be too big for a small movie, I was enchanted from the very first scene.Especially entertaining were the discoveries that the son makes about his father as a person. And Peter Falk's monologue about being a hard-working, sacrificing father and husband was the perfect balancing point. Without that scene being acted so well, the movie would have seemed far less nuanced, and the character far less interesting.Nicely done, Paul and Peter!

sunshh This is one of the best movies I have ever seen. I feel greatly touched by the theme the movie intends to convey. One sentence that keeps coming up on my mind is that "history repeats itself". Life is what it is shown in the movie: when people are young, they seem not to understand their parents, their own spouses; people have every excuse for not sharing the dearest time with their children until too late; people always have to work hard to support the whole family but are just liable to neglect the subtle feeling of their partners; people always change their perspectives at different stages of their lives; people can always be forgiven if their heart is full of love for their beloved; nothing is more important than the blood relation people share in this world, and one is never too late to talk with their folks about what they feel at the bottom of their heart so as to achieve a better understanding between themselves, so that when life has to end some day, people should not feel sorry or regretful since they have kept their words and there is always hope ---a new life. The actors and actresses are fantastic. They have understood the director's intention perfectly. The movie's charm lies in, to me, the effect of bringing a skillful and splendid fusion of cheers and tears to the audience.