Review: Father Figures

Ed Helms and Owen Wilson play twin brothers (!) of very opposite personalities, the sons of Glenn Close who had lied to them throughout their lives about their father being dead. Now the brothers go on a road trip to meet mum’s list of ex-lovers to figure out which one of them might be their daddy. The rogues’ gallery includes a former NFL player (Terry Bradshaw, natch), a veterinarian (Christopher Walken), and a tattooed repo man (J.K. Simmons). Harry Shearer is wasted as Close’s current beau, whilst June Squibb plays Simmons’ wife.

 

Did it catch me in a weak moment? Did the critical drubbing give me low expectations going in allowing it to clear a very low bar? Or did I simply just enjoy this 2018 comedy-drama from debut director Lawrence Sher (who was the cinematographer on “The Hangover”, “War Dogs”, and “Joker”) and screenwriter Justin Malen (“Office Christmas Party”)? Yeah, I’m gonna go with the latter for now. I laughed, I had a good time, and I think it’s mostly pretty well done. I don’t think it’s anything other than that, and that’s fine.

 

Although his character takes a back seat in the second half, Owen Wilson hasn’t been this funny since “Meet the Parents” or at least “Wedding Crashers”. Even Glenn Close manages to let loose and be funny here, whilst Ed Helms is certainly well-cast (he’s the hard-working milquetoast doctor, while Wilson is the lazy brother who somehow fell into money). The premise is ancient and kinda lame, almost like an adult version of the mega-bomb “North” in the way it progresses as well. However, it’s a much, much better film than that and consistently funny.

 

The great cast and the humour get this one over the line. There’s a particularly hilarious exchange between Wilson and Helms and a potential hitch-hiker who may or may not be a serial killer (played by Katt Williams, who has never seemed terribly funny to me outside of this). He’s certainly no actor, but Terry Bradshaw is genuinely funny as a fictionalised version of himself, with Ving Rhames hilarious as his former teammate who has wild stories of his own about Close. A tattooed J.K. Simmons and Betty White-esque June Squibb are fun casting too.

 

I did think 70 minutes was far too late to be bringing in a potential love interest for Helms (apparently several scenes were cut out of the film before release and one involved this particular arc), and the film might be a touch long overall. However, this mixture of “Twins” and “North” (done right) is severely underrated in my book. This is a surprisingly consistently funny and well-acted film. It only has 17% on Rotten Tomatoes. Why? It was on the shelf a long time before being released. Why? Give this one a go and it might surprise you as much as it did me. The plot isn’t much chop and it sticks around a bit too long, but I had a good time with this one. I wish I had seen it earlier, actually.

 

Rating: B-

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