[Last Film I Saw] Parenthood (1989) [4/10]

Title: Parenthood
Year: 1989
Country: USA
Language: English
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Director: Ron Howard
Writers:
Lowell Ganz
Babaloo Mandel
Ron Howard
Music: Randy Newman
Cinematography: Donald McAlpine
Cast:
Steve Martin
Mary Steenburgen
Dianne Wiest
Jason Robards
Rick Moranis
Tom Hulce
Martha Plimpton
Keanu Reeves
Harley Jane Kozak
Joaquin Phoenix
Eileen Ryan
Helen Shaw
Jasen Fisher
Zachary La Voy
Max Elliott Slade
Alisan Porter
Dennis Dugan
Clint Howard
Alex Burrall
Ivyann Schwan
Paul Linke
Bryce Dallas Howard
Rating: 4/10

What leads me to watch this film is Dianne Wiest’s singular Oscar-nomination, how rare a mainstream comedy stars Steve Martin could generate an Oscar-caliber performance? Is it as eccentrically diverting as Marisa Tomei in MY COUSIN VINNY (1992, 7/10) or a rowdy and raunchy scene-stealer as Melissa McCarthy in BRIDESMAIDS (2011, 7/10)? Neither is the case here, thus the answer could only be that it is Academy’s honeymoon period with Wiest, who has just won an Oscar 3 years earlier for Woody Allen’s HANNAH AND HER SISTERS (1986, 8/10) and would harvest her second trophy pretty soon in another Allen’s satire BULLETS OVER BROADWAY (1994, 8/10).

However, skimming through the credits, it is a quite impressive ensemble here, besides Wiest, there are Oscar winners Steenburgen and Robards, the flash-in-the-pan Oscar nominee Tom Hulce with future leading man Keanu Reeves and Joaquin Phoenix, the burn-too-soon starlet Martha Plimpton, and it is directed by Ron Howard to boot, chances are the film might be more than a crowd-pleasing family fare, and again, I am so wrong!

It is a big family, its patriarch Frank (Robards) has four children, the eldest Helen (Wiest), a divorcée with two children, the adolescent Julie (Plimpton) and the introvert teenager Garry (Phoenix); Gil (Martin) is the second, he and his wife Karen (Steenburgen) have 3 children, among whom Kevin (Fisher) is a school-kid has some mood issues and needs special treatment; Susan (Kozak) is the youngest daughter, married to Nathan (Moranis), they have one girl Patty (Schwan), who is under Nathan’s unconventional upbringing method and on her fast lane to become a child prodigy; the most problematic one is the youngest son Larry (Hulce), a black sheep in the family, a ne’er-do-well addicts to gambling. Spoiler alert, this is not the end, the family is keeping expanding as if it is a blatant advertisement of unprotected sex.

Not exactly an out-and-out comedy, the film sums up a menagerie of headaches of being a parent, all are laboriously entwined in a cumbersome plot, and even though, in the end, everyone is still fearlessly riding on the way to make babies, yeah, being a parent is sometimes irritating, but you know what, no one can escape that, 3 is never enough, 4 might be better, even though he or she may end up being a jerk like Larry. It might be edifying 25 years ago (low birth rate in the state I assume), but now, it seems shamelessly narrow-minded and self-pleasingly irresponsible, we don’t buy that now, not everyone suits to be a parent, it is a demanding job and should need a certificate, paraphrasing the dimwitted Tod (Reeves) who expresses the most incisive remark which should be legitimised so that there will be far less lousy parents in the world.

On a whole, the film doesn’t age well, its content feels uneasily predictable, most of time it persists in stating the obvious and plugging a unified American lifestyle, the cast is inequitable, Martin, Steenburgen, Wiest and Robards all have their moments from time to time, but Hulce and Moranis are tainted by the crappy script. Even grandma’s sensible credo (roller coaster Vs. merry-go-around) sounds jarringly self-important near the end, alas, not my cup-of-tea, period.

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