Like Father Like Son

I saw this back in 87 when it came out and have watched it many many times since then. The two main stars, Dudley and Kirk steal the show. There are so many quotable lines from Like Father Like son. I love when Dudley M. as his son, is walking through the hospital with his interns making the rounds and he has no idea what to do. They interns are all following him as he slowly and awkwardly tries to figure out where to go and when he thinks he's finished the task, he looks at the interns and says, "great rounds". So funny. I saw some really bad reviews here about this movie: Why? They must have something against really funny movies with great actors.

The way I see it, this story gave each of the two groups (teenaged students and middle-aged professional people) a better understanding of the trials and tribulations the other experiences on a daily basis. As kids, we think our parents' lives are easy, and as adults, we tend to forget the pressures experienced by highschoolers. I enjoyed this film, and hope others will, too.

Someone must have thought that all this movie needed to succeed was Kirk Cameron to pull in the teenage girls and Dudley Moore to pull in their parents. Somehow they forgot that Kirk is incapable of pulling off anything in the way of depth in his acting and Dudley in a role like this would get carried away with its silliness.

The premise was old, the dialogue poor, the situations strained, and the acting cartoonish. The result is a bad movie with a fading teen heartthrob and a fifty-something actor playing his Arthur character at the age of ten. If anyone finds this in a 'sale' bin for used videos, try to bury it farther down where it can be avoided and forgotten.

I think I have seen every example of the "body switch" genre, at least all of those that have been made in the past 40 years or so, and "Like Father Like Son" is the worst of them. The first 20 minutes or so are painless mediocrity, but then soon after the movie collapses. What's the problem? I think the main problem is that the characters are stupid. If I was in their situation, I know I would be terrified and trying my best to not raise suspicion. If the movie had done that, it could have been funny seeing these people trying to do their best but making mistakes. But the movie's two main characters seem to be trying their best to blow the charade - not realistic. And the movie's sense of humor is really bad - we have such stuff as audiences falling asleep during lectures, a gag that's done TWICE. If you want to see a good example of this genre, see "Freaky Friday" (the original or the remake) or "Vice Versa".

Dudley Moore is hilarious. This terrified and later excited teen in a middle aged man's body gets into so many wild situations. But he is very creative when he has to be and quite a schemer.

Sean Astin is great as the best friend, and why wouldn't he be? Look who his parents are. Well, that doesn't always mean success, but he has gone on to have quite a career, and here we can see why.

Kirk Cameron isn't that highly regarded, and he's no Mike Seaver here. If he has talent, that's the role where he showed it. Here, he's kind of ordinary, but he gets the job done. In the scene with the baby being born he really shines. There is also another kind of stereotypical scene where he goes beyond the usual, As a genius who has trouble with social interaction, he's no Iain Armitage, who is the master.

Cloud Dancing from "Dr. Quinn" is the one who picks up Earl and carries him to the Navajo medicine man. I didn't know this until the closing credits. He was not known for being funny, but now that I know who it was, it was nice to see him with a sense of humor.

Earl is given something to drink and immediately it becomes clear what has happened. The Navajo is horrified to look at the white man and see himself. The white man, apparently speaking the Navajo language, obviously feels the same way.

Some questions I have. Chris has an appointment soon with a Northwestern recruiter. Not sure why Northwestern, because they are driving distance from Death Valley. Oh, well. We also don't know why Jack is British but living in the United States. By the way, this stuff that causes the body switching is clear, so why is Jack going to use that bottle by mistake, rather than the one full of red stuff?

And one last adventure does not involve a car chase. It is just one car, driven recklessly, causing damage to itself and everything else as we must endure a band that put the heavy in metal, one that makes Autograph (which we and Jack had to endure earlier) look like The Eagles. The editing is interesting because we keep going Jack and forth between two locations, and each time we see the car again, the "music" continues from where it left off.

It's not a kids' movie. Some curse words were obviously changed for TV. Who says "dorkhead"? And there is one scene of a sexual nature which, if you remember this man is actually a teenager, is actually in terrible taste, but doesn't go overboard.

But cleaned up for TV as I saw it, I wouldn't say all kids should avoid it. It's pretty childish.

Yes, we've seen this sort of thing before? So what. They're all unique, if you really think about it.

And I had fun.