Billboard Dad

The 2 cutest kids in the world decide to help their dad rope in a mate by advertising his stats for all the world to see....much to dad's chagrin. Naturally, this leads to adventures for the girls and romance for dad. The usual stuff from the Olsons': in other words, no great shakes, but a fun time just the same.

It's the Olsen twins to the rescue once again in their straight-to-video release, Billboard Dad. With Venice, California, serving as a Bohemian backdrop, the preteen queens of the dead-mom genre scheme to find their widowed father a girlfriend by turning a Hollywood billboard into a personal ad. Breezy predictability ensues: Dad gets thousands of letters and dates a series of progressively weirder women before bumping into Ms. Right. Since Dad's a successful sculptor, true love destroys the angst behind his profitable art. As his agent tries to drive a wedge between the lovebirds, the twins become unwitting accomplices. All of this just sets the stage, really, for Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen to do their thing--they are way cool, fashionable, and mature beyond their preteen years--with their equally hip friends, who have a drama of their own unfolding on the diving team. Nothing truly unexpected happens, but it doesn't matter. In other words, parents, don't watch this alone.

Although this was one of their earlier films with a bizarre premise, it was still highly enjoyable and the start of their more mature work after their initial Trenchcoat Detective series. The Olsens were already way ahead of the fashion trends, mentioning Ugg Boots years before their recent boom in popularity. The romance was not overdone, but light and playful as it should be for their age group. This tasteful approach was also reflected in their clothing, especially bathing suit choice (they were always shown in one piece). The typical older guy crush was well played and spoke to every girl's first fantasy date. I mean, who didn't laugh when Ashley mistakenly said, "Thanks, Bod!" instead of Brad, the "hunk-o-saurus'" name! An interesting trivia point of this movie would be that in the later films, Mary-Kate plays the tomboy character, while Ashley is the girlier, but still capable, twin. However, in this film, Ashley comes out sporting a surfer-girl look, and while later fans were surprised by this inversion, obviously both twins are extremely versatile in their acting approaches.

While I did indeed know that this movie existed, I actually never have seen it before now in 2025. It is not that I didn't have the chance before, but I just never took the time to do so. But I finally opted to check it out here in 2025, and see what writer Maria Jacquemetton and director Alan Metter had to offer.

The storyline in the movie was pretty straightforward, but it was not really a narrative that appealed all that much to me. I am not saying that the story was bad, it just failed to entertain me properly. I found it to be a bit too generic and devoid of entertaining moments.

Of the entire cast ensemble in the movie, I was only familiar with leading actresses Ashley Olsen and Mary-Kate Olsen. The acting performances in the movie were good.

"Billboard Dad" is watchable, sure, but it was a rather forgettable movie, and most definitely not a movie that I will be returning to watch a second time. The movie is definitely something that will find a wider appeal with a pre-teen female audience.

My rating of director Alan Metter's 1998 movie "Billboard Dad" lands on a generous four out of ten stars.

As with "Our Lips Are Sealed," I found this to be one of the better Olsen movies. The sets are beautiful; then again, Southern California is usually beautiful. Some of the acting is a little cheesy, especially on the character Nigel's part; this is inevitable in most children's movies, however. Overall, this movie is cute and harmless fun with a semi-unique storyline to boot. I give it a 10 in the field of Olsen movies, because I feel that it can't be rated against mainstream blockbusters such as "Crash" or "Braveheart." I would definitely recommend this movie if you're looking for a good family movie that adults and children can tolerate and enjoy.