Published via Ecency

(source:tmdb.org)

For many critics Macaulay Culkin symbolised everything that was bad about early 1990s Hollywood. Following the smashing success of Home Alone, Culkin became the most bankable child star of those times with most of his later films repeating the same formula over and over again. Since those usually films relied on Culkin's pretty face and annoying brat routine at the expense of everything else, young actor was not particularly popular among critics, at least those unwilling to bow to the standards of the lowest common denominator or accept misanthropic comedies as family entertainment. They probably greeted Culkin's puberty with a sigh of relief - with his voice mutating, Culkin simply couldn't deliver the goods anymore and his movie star career came to a halt. Getting Even with Dad, 1994 comedy by Howard Deutsch, is one of his last films.

In this film Culkin plays Timmy Gleason, young boy whose mother has passed away while father Ray (played by Ted Danson), professional thief, spent most of the time in prison. Ray is now out of prison and together with his two accomplices - Bobby (played by Saul Rubinek) and Carl (played by Gailard Sartain) - prepares great coin heist. Timmy, however, shows up in the middle of planning and since he is bright kid, he doesn't need much time to figure out why Ray ignores his presence. So, in order to finally attract father's attention, Timmy hides the stolen coins and demands that Ray spend some time with him before turning them over. When father and son finally get together, they are followed by Ray's partners and police.

The script by Jim Jennewein and Tom S. Parker, based on already bizarre premise, is overcrowded with sentimental cliches (delinquent man sees the errors of his ways after being paired with infant against his will) and some obligatory but nevertheless implausible subplots (romantic liaison between ex con and female detective, played by Glenne Headley). This script provides few humorous scenes, and character actors are doing fine work, whether they have more complex job like Ted Danson, or play caricatures like Rubinek and Sartain. However, good production values and acting talent alone can't save Getting Even with Dad to from sliding in the oblivion reserved for Hollywood mediocrity.

RATING: 6/10 (++)

(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.movies.reviews on October 2nd 2000)