Whenever Hollywood gets its hands on parenthood, normally an avalanche of cheesy unfunny moralising, and bratty child acting follows. But this is that rare and beautiful thing - FUNNY. And it has Steve Martin in it before something went horribly wrong and he started making putrid, vomitous movies like Cheaper By the Dozen and that dreadful thing where he was perving over Claire Danes who played his granddaughter - oh no I mean his girlfriend . . .
Enough of that bilge. Parenthood is about the Buckmans. An extended family with their own problems. Three kids, one of whom is terribly anxious, loads of relatives, including the fabulous Dianne West whose husband has left 'to have a party leaving me to raise two kids'. She has two furious teeangers. Along comes Keanu Reeves and gets her daughter pregnant. But he turns out to be a Good Thing. Mary Steenbergen is Mrs Buckman, and Tom Hulce as the family layabout; the son who was the father's favorite but is full of grand schemes and plans that never come to anything. You'll recognise some of the family members as almost as annoying as yours! Yes they live in an annoyingly big house, but you can relate to their problems and for once, the child actors don't make you want to throw things at the screen.
Really funny, touching and amazingly something the whole family will enjoy. Honest.
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Soundtrack
Good
How does it compare to others by the same director?
Outstanding
Value for Money
Good
What format are you reviewing?
DVD
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