Movie Review #14: Father HOOD (1993)

 

I gotta talk about how great Touchstone Pictures was, they started in 1984 and have been dormant since 2016. It became a defunct label in 2018. I didn't even know they lasted that long. Or that they had 236 movies put out under that label. It was a label owned by Disney, because well Disney owns everyone and everything. There heyday was from around 1984 to the mid to late 90s. You've seen the logo before I know you have. 

 They also dabbled in more genres then I thought. I mostly remember them from classic comedy films like Splash, Adventures in Babysitting, 3 Ninjas (shut up you know it's still great), and the first four Ernest movies (Goes to Camp, Saves Christmas, Goes to Jail and Scared Stupid) and Lisa Kudrow's greatest work Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion (she's seriously better in just this one movie than the entire 43 year run of Friends) Of the 73 Touchstone Pictures I've seen according to my letterboxd account I think I've only disliked four or five of them. The majority of them are very well done films that are worth a watch. The great ones are amazing.

The best part is that Touchstone Pictures would pick great actors to star in these movies. I don't think this movie would have been as enjoyable if the actors weren't all great. Even the kid actors, but I gotta give it to Patrick Swayze, whom I will not make a joke about looking like Kurt Russell because both of them are wonderful and amazing and deserve your utmost respect and no dumb jokes made about them. This movie also has Michael Ironside in it, playing a crazy person. You know one of the two roles Hollywood lets him play. A military man or a crazy person. He does it very well as always. It's not a big part but I will always be happy to see Michael Ironside.

The movies plot is pretty simple. Patrick Swayze is a deadbeat dad hoping to score big with Michael Ironside. They plan to steal money from some guy in New Orleans. His daughter escapes from Bigelow, a place for foster kids. It's not being ran very well. I think the only problem is that they didn't say if that place was going to be looked into. I know that Patrick Swayze and the jerk who runs the place have a moment but I'd still like to have seen him in jail or something very conclusive. It's like damn man these place has people who do terrible shit to foster kids and you don't end up showing them shut down. That's not how you end a charming movie!

He ends up kidnapping his kids from the foster care place and they go on a road trip. He ends up getting in contact with a reporter who did a piece on well the fact he kidnapped his kids and she gets him to help get stuff out about Bigelow. The reporter is played by early 90s Halle Berry which I think is the superior Halle Berry. Throughout the adventure they have he goes from Big Douche to Loveable Scamp. He realizes his kids are the most important thing and it's not about the money. Poor crazy old Michael Ironside just gets shot a lot, that dude ends up dead in a lot of things.

FINAL VERDICT: I enjoyed this movie. It was thrilling and had several great laughs. I enjoyed watching these characters interact with one another and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a fun movie. Portnoyd will yell about it probably.