Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageDad (1989)
Director: Gary David Goldberg
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Sharp, successful businessman John (Danson), out of step with his folks, grudgingly comes home to help care for his confused and helpless father Jake (Lemmon) while his indomitable mom Bette (Dukakis) is in hospital. Roles are reversed as son coaxes father from his childlike state, and John's success leads him to reassess his failed relationship with his own teen son (Hawke). Lemmon wrings genuine pathos from his role, as does Dukakis as shrewish, sardonic Bette. It's Danson in sincere mode who makes the film difficult to endure, especially in the later learning, caring and sharing scenes. Eventually, Jake falls foul of the Big C. He's sick! He gets better! He has a relapse! He rallies! This is called milking it. The film does assert there are some things positive thinking won't conquer, like sickness, senility and death. But it smothers any serious intent in cheap homily, modern mythology and sickly sentimentality.Author: SFe
Cast & crew
Director: Gary David Goldberg
Producer: Joseph Stern, Gary David Goldberg
Cast: Jack Lemmon, Ted Danson, Olympia Dukakis, Kathy Baker, Kevin Spacey, Ethan Hawke, Zakes Mokae, JT Walsh full cast
Duration: 118 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Review: Penélope Cruz more raunchy than ever in 'Nine'
Dave Calhoun reports on Rob Marshall's Oscar-touted musical with Daniel Day-Lewis playing a troubled director
Time Out's 101 Films of the Decade
Ten years, thousands of movies and millions of dollars in international box office, and it all boils down to this
Jim Jarmusch on 'The Limits of Control'
Jim Jarmusch has followed ‘Broken Flowers’ with an esoteric crime mystery. Dave Calhoun speaks to him from his New York office
Richard Linklater on 'Me and Orson Welles'
Dave Calhoun meets the 49-year-old, Houston-born filmmaker Richard Linklater to discuss his new comedy
Our verdict on Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones
Peter Jackson ends a triumphant decade with a sentimental misfire with this lush Alice Sebold adaptation
On the set of Ken Loach's 'Route Irish'
Dave Calhoun meets Ken Loach on the set of his forthcoming Iraq war movie
Is 'Paranormal Activity' the new 'Blair Witch'?
How does a film go from DIY experiment to box-office smash? 'Paranormal Activity' director Oren Peli explains
A gateway to all things 'New Moon'
In anticipation of 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon', Time Out is offering the chance to pick up a limited edition pack with three exclusive magazines and a free poster.
The films that deserve a TV spin-off
With Roland Emmerich suggesting he'd like to make a '2012' TV spin-off, we propose some more movie-to-TV serialisations
Time Out's 50 greatest animated films with commentary by Terry Gilliam
In celebration of the release of Pixar's 'Up' and Wes Anderson's 'Fantastic Mr Fox', read our rundown of fifty classic feature length animations
What do you think?
Post your review now