FATHERS' DAY
Film reviews by Michael Dequina
Copyright 1997 Michael Dequina
Fathers' Day (PG-13) ** 1/2 (out of ****)
Robin Williams and Billy Crystal are both funny men in their own right, and as such one would expect their first big-screen pairing, Fathers' Day, to be just as funny, if not funnier, than their solo film efforts. Alas, the whole is definitely not greater than the sum of its parts, for Ivan Reitman's family comedy, as amusing as it is, never reaches the expected heights of hilarity.
The underachievement of Fathers' Day does not have so much to do with the performers involved than the material. The film is based on the 1983 French comedy Les Comperes, starring Gerard Depardieu and Pierre Richard, a blah, often labored farce which I was not terribly impressed with when I saw it way back in 9th grade French class. Screenwriters Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel follow the original fairly closely, but their take on the story is a bit more successful. In adapting the first film, they have duplicated the original knotty premise--two men (Williams and Crystal) are duped into searching for a former lover's (Nastassja Kinski) runaway son (Charlie Hofheimer) after she falsely tells both that the child is their own--while adding some flourishes tailor-made for these two stars. Williams, stepping in for the bumbling Richard, is a complete nutjob, suicidal and prone to weeping at the drop of a hat; Crystal, assuming Depardieu's tough guy part, is more of a dry, sarcastic, no-nonsense type who just happens to do a mean headbutt. These modifications in place, the two settle into their roles quite nicely and put some bite into the sometimes cloying material.
While the two snugly fit into their individual roles, Williams and Crystal do not quite catch fire as a team. There are laughs to be had in Fathers' Day, but instead of generating from the duo's interaction with each other--the sign of a good comic team--the big laughs come courtesy from only one half of the pair: Williams. Granted, Williams's manic, go-for-broke comic energy steamrolls everyone and everything around him, and broader schtick always upstages the more subtle stabs at humor. But Crystal, so clearly in his element with this role, is surprisingly unable to hold his own. Ganz and Mandel give him a stinging remark to deliver here and there, but as a whole he is strangely passive. Just as passive is enormously gifted Seinfeld Emmy winner Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Crystal's wife. The small size of her role would not have been such an annoyance if she were given a chance to display her vast comic talents, but she is totally wasted in this thankless, completely straight role.
None of what I say will likely keep Fathers' Day from becoming an early summer hit. It has two popular stars; it does have its moments; and you can take the kiddies. Those three things may be enough to satisfy most mainstream moviegoers, but anyone expecting one and one to equal two will be disappointed--the end result is more like one times one than one plus one.
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