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FATHER’S DAY
Tacky on the surface, this first teaming of comics Robin Williams and Billy Crystal is a sentimental tribute to the joys and rewards of being a good father. It won’t make any all time comedy lists, but its aspirations are modest, probably something like the old Hope-Crosby series.
The story is uneasily adapted from Les Comperes, a 1983 Gerard Depardieu farce in which a woman cons two ex-lovers into tracking down her runaway son by telling each one privately that he is really the boy’s father. The guys are now of the age to take the news and the task solemnly. (The new locale is northern California and Reno.)
In this version the 17-year-old fugitive and his girlfriend are traveling around in a haze in the wake of a punk band, and there is not enough hilarity to hide the grim realities under the surface. The stars, directed by Ivan Reitman (Dave, Junior), aren’t easily discouraged, with Robin playing a neurotic wimp and Billy a self-deprecating lawyer.
This hopeful but naive movie assumes that once the boy knows that these “fathers” really care for him, he’ll melt, come home and (presumably) become student-body president. The heroes will reform their lives and work at having families of their own. Well, let’s try hope for a change. Occasionally funny but not up to the quality of the talent not recommended.
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