May 11, 1997 -- "Father's Day" is a surprisingly mediocre film, considering the great comic talents it has.

You would think Robin Williams and Billy Crystal would be a comedy dream team, but poor scripting and a sloppy production offsets that talent.

My first hint this was not going to be a good film was when I noticed a continuity error in one of the opening scenes. Crystal is being told he is the father of a 17-year-old boy who has run away by his old flame, Natassia Kinsky.

Crystal does a great reaction to the news by continuing the drink he is in the middle of, draining most of the drink. Yet when we cut back to Crystal a few seconds later, his glass is full. This kind of error should not happen in a film with a veteran director like Ivan Reitman ("Ghostbusters").

The writers, Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel ("Splash," "Parenthood") are experienced enough that they ought to know even with talents like Crystal and Williams, you need to provide motivation for the characters, yet little is provided.

The whole setup with Kinski telling both Williams and Crystal they are the fathers of the missing boy is very thin. The friendship that develops between the two isn't very convincing at first, but Crystal and Williams eventually make it work. Williams has to labor especially hard, being stuck with a whiny, weepy character whose first appearance on the screen is with a gun in his mouth. It's tough to make that funny.

When you see Crystal and Williams working so hard just to keep the audience from being bored stiff, you know they haven't been given much to work with. This film rates a C, but should have been a lot better than that.

Click here for links to places to buy this movie in video and/or DVD format, the soundtrack, books, even used videos, games and lots of other stuff. I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

Copyright © 1997 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.