Hey everybody, it’s movie time! I’m re-writing the words from the start of a Styx hit song and saying today is “movie time!” For movie time tonight, let’s watch “Parenthood” from director Ron Howard. “Parenthood” tells the story of a dysfunctional family as only Hollywood can tell it (well, it was made in Orlando, but is a studio project), but does offer work by two actors who make you despise their character on-screen as well as make you dislike them personally, too.
“Parenthood” focuses on the family of Steve Martin and Mary Steenbergen. He’s the son of Jason Robards, who is the big-mouth patriarch of the “Buckman” family – he’s grandiose in his outlook, while being a miserable human being. The rest of the “Buckman” family includes two daughters with their own family issues as well as a worm of another son, played to perfection by Tom Hulce.
The audience comes to despise the characters played by Robards and Hulce because of their individual bottom-of-the-barrel mentality and treatment of others and that bleeds over after the film to make you have a bad taste in your mouth about both actors. I guess that’s a sign that both conveyed their characters at a level few actors can accomplish.
Further, you just get great acting from top to bottom of the cast with “Parenthood” and it was the first major film shot at Universal Studios Florida in Orlando and had one scene shot at my beloved University of Florida in Gainesville.
Along the way with “Parenthood,” you get Keanu Reeves as an empty-headed but surprisingly endearing young man who’s married one of Robards’ daughter’s daughter; as well as a young Joaquin Phoenix (it was his last credit as Leaf Phoenix) with a fixation on porn that gets explained by Reeves.
You’ll need to check out “Parenthood” for yourself and although it has an uplifting ending, the movie is basically an overall downer … so don’t get your hopes up! You’ll enjoy “Parenthood” all these years later … I guarantee it!
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