There are times when the critics crucify a movie and those who star in it, with no justification. I ignore critics completely because I know what I like. I find it particularly offensive when unjust criticism is levelled at young performers at the start of a career. For this reason I shall begin by mentioning Charlie Hofheimer's role in the film. This was his biggest part to date and brother it must have been hard. He had to play a straight role with no comic lines between the two old hands, Robin Williams and Billy Crystal who obviously ad-libbed from beginning to end. It is of enormous credit to him that he managed to keep a straight face at all. His character was a spoiled teenager who was at various times in love, in a drunken stupor, on the run from criminals and suddenly confused about who his father was. I fail to see how he could have carried this part off better than he did. Add to this the fact that at 15/16 Charlie was undoubtedly one of the most handsome young men in America.
Williams with his extravagant style and Crystal with the more subtle approach provided the perfect foil for each other. So the comedy flowed. Nor did all of the best comic moments happen when these two were involved. The third father's rescue mission was hilarious.
There was also a fair amount of pathos running through the film which made it into just the kind of happy/ sad mixture that I love.This was no Oscar nomination, but good, clean, harmless fun. Enjoy!
