At the Movies with Fatwayne

This movie premiered to a host of negative reviews. Well, here I go again, swimming against the current! I laughed out loud several times and, overall, had a grand old time. John Travolta and Robin Williams happen to be two of my favorite actors and when you throw Kelly Preston and Ann Margaret into the mix, it simply doesn’t get any better for me. This film is rated PG and is a perfect choice if you would like to let the kids tag along.

The movie is all about relationships. Charlie (John  Travolta) and Dan (Robin Williams) are best friends and business partners. Dan had a very brief affair after a world shattering divorce from his true love. This tryst resulted in the birth of twins unbeknownst to Dan. At the worst possible moment business wise, Vicki (Kelly Preston) shows up seven years after the fact and tells Dan that he is a father of twins! It works out that Dan must watch over the kids for two weeks while Vicki serves a jail term for obstruction. Of course, whatever Dan becomes involved in you can count on Charlie to be at his side! Dan and “Uncle” Charlie are out of their element where seven year old children are concerned. The guys struggle to establish a meaning relationship with the twins and this process provides us with a lot of chuckles.

There is a sequence involving Charlie, Dan and their irresponsible “man Friday”, Ralph White (Seth Green) breaking into a zoo in order to attend the twins birthday party. This is funny because Ralph is eventually captured by a gorilla who becomes enamored with him, cuddling him like a child while he emits his patented screams and eventually winds up serenading his big hairy friend! Funny stuff!

There is also a plot line involving the guys arguing over whose daily medications have the biggest side effects. The twins manage to accidentally spill the pills and being afraid to confess their faux pas, haphazardly restore them to their containers mixing them up in the process. This results in some hilarious side effects! Dan is unable to speak and has perception problems which ruin his golf outing with his potential business clients. Charlie is struck with an insatiable appetite and a rictus smile that is disastrous to his efforts to impress his latest girlfriend while at a support group gathering for grieving people. As they are crying at the loss of one of their own, Charlie is sitting there grinning like the Cheshire Cat! Again, funny stuff!

In the end, all works out as we would hope that it would. There is also a final and very clever mix up with the pills again resulting in that great, big, goofy smile. The group picture with Ralph behind the camera, makes him remark just before he snaps the shutter, “Maybe not that big of a smile”!

I have posted quotes from this film at  http://www.tvmoviequotes.com/olddogs.htm

Rated – PG  -

Fatwayne’s Rating   -    -