Wonderful character development!

Don't Believe the Hype

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Gary Goldberg's Dad only got Oscar recognition with a nomination for makeup. Surely deserved in the way Jack Lemmon was transformed into a henpecked old codger. But surely Lemmon and Ted Danson playing his son merited some Oscar consideration in 1989. So does Olympia Dukakis playing the mother.Dad is a wonderful study of the issues in being a senior citizen and now that I am one can appreciate more now than in 1989 when it first came out. From the first you see that it's Dukakis wearing the pants in the family as they go grocery shopping. But when Olympia has a heart attack in the supermarket, Lemmon is kind of left to his own devices.The children, Kathy Baker and Kevin Spacey, help to some degree. But it's there third brother who works for an investment firm who really pitches in. Ted Danson is a kind of Gordon Gekko of the West Coast, but as he pitches in and helps the two really connect and reestablish a relationship. I did love the scene where Lemmon just sits in on a board meeting comprehending more than Danson realizes about what he does for a living.Ever since Lemmon retired from Lockheed years it's Dukakis who has become the dominant one. No longer earning and kind of under foot he becomes just an appendage. She treats him like a child.Soon enough the roles are reversed. She comes home and he's diagnosed with cancer. The family then goes into crisis mode.Dad has a nice constructed story with very well developed characters with the exception of Kevin Spacey who is given little to do with his role. Ethan Hawke is also in the film as Danson's son who has always had a great relationship with his grandfather. Jack Lemmon was 66 when he made the film. But with makeup he looks more 86 and really makes you believe it in his performance. A whole lot like his buddy Walter Matthau when he starred in Kotch.Dad is a wonderful film for the family about a family named Tremont.

It is very rare that I give any film 10/10 but then it is very rare that I see a film that deserves it. This is one film that truly deserves it. the huge names that fill the main roles play their parts perfectly. I was surprised that neither this film nor the anyone in either the main two roles or the supporting roles was up for an academy award because they all should have been in my opinion. OK so maybe not all, but certainly somewhere along the line one ore more of the aforementioned list should have been This film was extremely heart-warming and tugged at the heart-strings in equal measures.Ted Danson plays a man called John Tremont who rearranges his life when his mother, Bette, (his father, Jake, has allowed her to do virtually everything for him. He has therefore had his self-esteem whittled away over the last fifty years or more that they have been married including not having a lot of fun and driving him everywhere)has a heart-attack in a supermarket. Suddenly the high-powered business man has to find his relationship with his father again and he does this by giving back to him what is missing from his life. The bond they end up with is extremely strong. So much so that he stays with his father the whole time when he, after his mother gets well and comes out of hospital, ends up in hospital himself.The supporting cast are just as good. You know instantly that daughter Annie is the one that normally looks after her elderly parents while John does the high-flying businessman bit only to then take more of a back-seat role when John rearranges his life. Mario, the third sibling, cannot be there to help as much as he would like due to living so far away does return to the family when there is need for him to do so. And then there is Billy who is obviously more attached to his Grandfather than his father This is a film that HAS to be seen.

Today August 12, 2008 --- Imagine I may be a little late for a comment --- but I only saw this movie today --- It was so true to life, and tapped into every emotion that one could feel -- going through an experience of the like. I lost my dad, two years ago, and although there were difference in the story line...the essence of it remained the same.....I loved it --- Jack Lemmon was so believable, Ted Danson (who I admit never saw him act outside of cheers was amazing and Olympia (she's a classic --- and so underrated)...My opine - a must see --- for life...Ven

Life is sometimes a hard thing. People must learn what is the most important thing in life. This film shows us how we must to face a critical situation. Perhaps when time is gone we try to recall that time too late. The family is the most important thing we have.The Film : I think it's very crude and real. there are many old ones in abandonment situation and this film illustrates the necessary love for the greater ones of the family. Although TV is treated in format, the argument either is developed and distributed in the time with a crescendo of emotions very well displayed.Jack Lemmon makes a magnificent work in Jake Tremont roll with such so pathetic depth that it seems realTed Danson is discovered like a good actor, not only for series of television, but also for cinema too. He plays more than credible son dedicated to his father treating to compensate the lack of affection felt in both directions in the past times