Matcollis This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

Gurlyndrobb While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Mischa Redfern I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

Blake Rivera If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

P_T_Knight Dianne Wiest continually delivers her lines with a deep emotion. It is absolutely enjoyable to experience someone in her caliber (which I have yet to experience!) This is by far Ron Howard's film, but Dianne Wiest REALLY makes it happen! One example is when her Biology teacher boyfriend replies "I went to Woodstock" - this was after her daughter announced that she was pregnant and Dianne states that she couldn't be a grandmother, grandmothers bake and sew. I was at Woodstock for Christ's Sake!! I peed in a field! I grabbed hold of the Who's helicopter while it flew away!" To which, the Biology teacher boyfriend replies that HE too was at Woodstock. Dianne is pouring herself a tall alcoholic drink and is about to down it and she turns to the teacher and says "oh yeah?! I thought I recognized you!" This is just one example ...... there are MANY more!!

videorama-759-859391 Parenthood is a great movie, in the fact, it addresses many issues of parenting we can identify with, it's sort of like a couple of episodes of a family drama, combined, but is wonderfully told in a near two hour film. The performances are great, even Reeves, as another sort of layabout, sponging boyfriend living with girlfriend (Plympton) in her mum's house. The mum, played by Dianne Wiest is such a likable character, but one I could identify with, as it's a very real character, resembling mother's I've met. We see the attitudes from all walks of people, the so common, and real problems that can't be brushed under the carpet, like Steve Martin's little boy, struck with mental illness. I liked the well drawn and different character of Hulce's as an addictive gambler. An interesting angle. He's so bloody convincing, I just now realized where is he these days? He comes back home, cause some bad dudes are after him, while later, would you believe, he pulls his Dad (the great Jason Robards) into one of his schemes. We really see how this addictions got him. There's so many wonderful performances where the film never dulls, as we go from one conflict to another, back and forth. Too, Moranis singing "Close To You" to girlfriend, (Kozak) you've got to see, while Martin, lands himself another hottie wife, a babe in blue I'll never forget.

lasttimeisaw What leads me to watch this film is Dianne Wiest's singular Oscar-nomination, how rare a mainstream comedy stars Steve Martin could generate an Oscar-caliber performance? Is it as wackily diverting as Marisa Tomei in MY COUSIN VINNY (1992, 7/10) or a rowdy and raunchy scene-stealer as Melissa McCarthy in BRIDESMAIDS (2011, 7/10)? Neither is the case here, thus the answer could only be that it is Academy's honeymoon period with Wiest, who has just won an Oscar 3 years earlier for Woody Allen's HANNAH AND HER SISTERS (1986, 8/10) and would harvest her second trophy pretty soon in another Allen's satire BULLETS OVER Broadway (1994, 8/10).However, skimming through the credits, it is a quite impressive ensemble here, besides Wiest, there are Oscar winners Steenburgen and Robards, the flash-in-the-pan Oscar nominee Tom Hulce with future leading man Keanu Reeves and Joaquin Phoenix, the burn-too-soon starlet Martha Plimpton, and it is directed by Ron Howard to boot, chances are the film might be more than a crowd-pleasing family fare, and again, I am so wrong!It is a big family, its patriarch Frank (Robards) has four children, the eldest Helen (Wiest), a divorcée with two children, the adolescent Julie (Plimpton) and the introvert teenager Garry (Phoenix); Gil (Martin) is the second, he and his wife Karen (Steenburgen) have 3 children, among whom Kevin (Fisher) is a school-kid has some mood issues and needs special treatment; Susan (Kozak) is the youngest daughter, married to Nathan (Moranis), they have one girl Patty (Schwan), who is under Nathan's unconventional upbringing method and on her fast lane to become a child prodigy; the most problematic one is the youngest son Larry (Hulce), a black sheep in the family, a ne'er-do-well addicts to gambling. Spoiler alert, this is not the end, the family is keeping expanding as if it is a blatant advertisement of unprotected sex. Not exactly an out-and-out comedy, the film sums up a menagerie of headaches of being a parent, all are laboriously entwined in a cumbersome plot, and even though, in the end, everyone is still fearlessly riding on the way to make babies, yeah, being a parent is sometimes irritating, but you know what, no one can escape that, 3 is never enough, 4 might be better, even though he or she may end up being a jerk like Larry. It might be edifying 25 years ago (low birth rate in the state I assume), but now, it seems shamelessly narrow-minded and self- pleasingly irresponsible, we don't buy that now, not everyone suits to be a parent, it is a demanding job and should need a certificate, paraphrasing the dimwitted Tod (Reeves) who expresses the most incisive remark which should be legitimized so that there will be far less lousy parents in the world. On a whole, the film doesn't age well, its content feels uneasily predictable, most of time it persists in stating the obvious and plugging a unified American lifestyle, the cast is inequitable, Martin, Steenburgen, Wiest and Robards all have their moments from time to time, but Hulce and Moranis are tainted by the crappy script. Even grandma's sensible credo (roller coaster Vs. merry-go-around) sounds jarringly self-important near the end, anyway, not my cup-of-tea, period.

HelenMary Parenthood is one of my favourite films and it's an eighties classic as far as I am concerned. It's Steve Martin's greatest hour and a fantastic ensemble film. Set around an extended family's goings on; four siblings' families go through divorce, separation, genius children issues, dysfunctional children, teen pregnancy and seemingly inappropriate relationships, adolescence gone awry, loneliness and sexual frustration, senile dementia, unemployment and gambling addiction. A funny, touching and inspirational film with quite a few iconic truisms. It is gentle comedy, but laugh out loud in places, and has something for everyone. Much imitated but never truly reproduced, it's just wonderfully uplifting and heart-warming with some great performances especially by Joaquin (then Leaf) Phoenix and Dianne Wiest.It hasn't aged well, particularly, but it's still relevant, engaging and eminently watchable. Love it.