Checked out the mis-titled and mis-marketed movie Father Figures. This is the comedy about two brothers (Ed Helms and Owen Wilson) who find out their mother wasn’t honest with them about who their father was. Since it was the 70s, it could be one of a few different men. So, yes, a similar premise to Mama Mia only more of a road trip and about 100% less ABBA.
This is not always the raunchy comedy the movie’s trailers suggests. It does have a little raunch but mainly the movie wants to be a family comedy/drama about two brothers who bond over their quest. It’s less focused on who the father is than it is their relationship as brothers (hence the movie being mis-labeled). There is random dirty comedy and even more random random comedy that just doesn’t fit with the tone of the rest of the movie. In other words, this movie is uneven and confused about what kind of movie it wants to be.
That doesn’t exactly make it a bad movie – there’s some genuine heart to the movie. The brothers and their mom (Glenn Close) have some good, truthful and heart-warming scenes. They also have scenes of picking up a random hitchhiker and being unsure if he’s a serial killer or a scene where they stare in amazement at the size of a cat’s gonads. Random stuff.
It’s an uneven movie that really isn’t particularly good or bad. Some of its good… I laughed… and the dramatic scenes seemed like they came from a different version of this movie when it wasn’t a comedy. But it’s that randomness that makes it hard to recommend. It’s probably something worth catching on cable or Netflix in a few months.
Score: 70