Two disappointing movies about neglectful fathers opened last week, "I'll Do Anything," which has the distinction of being a musical that has had its songs excised, and "My Father the Hero," a comedy excised of its laughs . . . if it had any to begin with.
— "I'LL DO ANYTHING" is writer-director-producer James L. Brooks' inside-Hollywood satire, something successful moviemakers always seem to get around to (anyone remember Blake Edwards' "S.O.B."?).
The newsmaking aspect of "I'll Do Anything," however, is that the film was once a musical, with songs by Prince, Carole King and Sinead O'Connor warbled by the cast. (One of the King songs remains, sung by 5-year-old Whittni Wright.)
As it is, this mix of soft domestic comedy and scathing Hollywood satire is very much a hit-or-miss affair . . . the satire is too inside for general audiences and the domestic material is weakly plotted.
Nick Nolte plays a forty-something struggling actor who suddenly gains custody of his 6-year-old daughter (Wright), whom he has not seen in two years. As a result, his acting career takes a back seat to his need to support his little girl, and soon he is chauffeuring powerful producer (Albert Brooks) around town.
Nolte also begins an affair with one of Brooks' employees, a self-centered script-reader (Joely Richardson), and reluctantly sees his daughter land a part in a sitcom.
But the film splits its interests between Nolte's story and that of a one-sided romance between self-absorbed workaholic Brooks and a straight-shooting pollster (Julie Kavner). (Ironically, though this subplot gets in the way of Nolte's story, it's actually more interesting.)
James L. Brooks, who comes from a television background ("The Simpsons," "The Mary Tyler Moore Show") and has given us a pair of award-winning features ("Terms of Endearment," "Broadcast News"), has come up with some wonderful dialogue — and he's put the best of it in the mouth of Kavner, whose character is utterly enchanting. (Brooks and young Wright are also on the mark.)
But there's no getting around the fact that an awkwardness exists here that is never quite overcome. The result is only sporadically amusing, though people in the movie business will laugh out loud at the many sharp show-biz gags.
"I'll Do Anything" is rated PG-13 for quite a bit of raunchy adult material, which includes profanity, sex, nudity and violence.
— "MY FATHER THE HERO" gets a major boost from French superstar Gerard Depardieu. Without his charm, this would be just another sniggering teen comedy with no redeeming value whatsoever.
A remake of a French film that never came to this country (and which also starred Depardieu), the story has a divorced father taking his 14-year-old daughter (Katherine Heigl) to a tropical island for a vacation, during which he hopes to get to know her, after having neglected her for five years.
But she is angry at him, of course, and she's also intent on finding romance. So, when Heigl sets her sights on a 17-year-old boy (Dalton James), she tries to trap him by weaving a web of lies and deceit, telling him (and everyone else on the island) that she is really 18, that Depardieu is her lover and an international spy, and later that Depardieu is dying.
At first, Depardieu is naturally appalled. But then he actually begins to help her, encouraging the romance and at one point even playing "Cyrano" as he gives her pointers on romantic dialogue.
All of this is extremely tasteless, though Depardieu does manage to get a few chuckles here and there. Worst of all is the decision of director Steve Miner ("Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken," "Forever Young") and writer Charlie Peters ("Three Men and a Little Lady," "Her Alibi") to make young Heigl a sex object, ogling her with the camera and having her wear a thong bikini.
She's 14, guys!
On the other hand, maybe it's not all that surprising when you discover that Peters also wrote "Blame It on Rio."
Incredibly, "My Father the Hero" (which comes from Disney's Touchstone Pictures division) is rated PG, despite profanity, vulgarity, brief partial nudity and violence.