Fathers' Day

Starring: Billy Crystal, Robin Williams, Julia Louise-Dreyfus, Nastassja Kinski, Charlie Hofheimer, Bruce Greenwood, Jared Harris, Dennis Burkley, Marth McGrath, Jason Reitman, Mel Gibson (cameo)
Directed by: Ivan Reitman
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Comedy
1997

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A woman (Nastassja Kinski) convinces two men (Billy Crystal, Robin Williams) to search for her missing son by telling them either of them could be his father.

Review:

Tim: I'm fairly surprised that the combined talents of Ivan Reitman, Billy Crystal, and Robin Williams combined for such a lackluster effort like Fathers' Day. From the very beginning of the film, it felt like something went wrong. Some of this might have been the weak script, but the performances didn't quite click and the direction felt off. I probably was too forgiving with this film (which felt okay to me, overall), but this is a far cry from being a success.

I suppose the basic story was fine. A woman tells two men that either of them could be the father of her missing son. These two men team up to search for the missing boy. I suppose there's some valid ideas there, but it's hard to take any of this seriously. Would two men who are confronted by a woman they had a relationship with in the past drop everything for this zany search for a missing kid? Wouldn't the obvious thing be to go to the authorities? And what chance would two regular guys have of finding a kid who didn't want to be found? The more you think about the premise, the shakier the logic is. This becomes more apparent the longer the film goes on. While there might have been some solid ideas in the initial version, the script feels like an early draft, not a finished product. That hurts the movie immensely.

Part of the reason I might have been slightly more forgiving of this film is that I really like Billy Crystal. He's a funny guy and I love his demeanor. He has this balance of being more intelligent than those around him, but he continually finds himself in crazy situations that he should have been smart enough to avoid. Here, he spends a lot of time exasperated with those around him, which really is in his wheelhouse. I enjoyed seeing Crystal in this role, even though it's not even close to his best. I like Robin Williams, too. I felt less enthused by his performance. As much as Crystal is the straight man here, Williams felt like he took his role too far. I get he was the "humor" of the duo, but he rarely elicits actual laughs. His character had some complexity to him, but he was never really believable. It felt like an odd collection of quirks more than an actual, fully fleshed out human being. I was quite surprised by how little Crystal and Williams made me laugh. I'm trying to think of legitimately funny moments in this film. Maybe the running gag about the shower stood out? And that was more a chuckle than anything else. It's quite surprising that this comedy wasn't all that funny.

The supporting cast was fine. Julia Louis-Dreyfus works in a small, minimally important role. Nastassja Kinski was fairly good in a small part. Bruce Greenwood had one of the funnier scenes with the portapotty, but that felt like a pretty cheap laugh. It was nice to see a young Jared Harris in a small role and I enjoyed Mel Gibson's humorous but ultimately pointless cameo. I did laugh at how Sugar Ray was depicted here. I was a big Sugar Ray fan back in the 1990s (the first CD I ever purchased was Floored) and the way the band and their fans were portrayed felt so disconnected from reality. Still, it was fun seeing them here. As a whole, you can't feel too excited about the cast. It was fine, but nothing more than that.

Most critics seemed to hate Fathers' Day, and I wouldn't argue with them. I found the movie slightly more tolerable. It was fun seeing Crystal and Williams together even if their pairing felt disappointing. The story is harmless and I didn't hate the film. Still, for this film, with Reitman in the director's chair to only be "okay" is a pretty large failure.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6



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