Father Figures - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Father Figures

Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score: ​

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Movie
When I saw the press release for Father Figures I honestly wondered if I had been asleep at the wheel. A movie with Ed Helms, Owen Wilson, Glenn Close, Terry Bradshaw, J.K. Simmons AND Christopher Walken doesn’t just pass you buy without SOME sort of notice. These are all head line actors and the trailer seemed like a hoot and a half! So how did I go through all of 2017 without seeing this in theaters? Well, it didn’t take more than 30 minutes into the movie before I started to understand just WHY this never got around to being a household name. Father Figures is an insipid, and cookie cutter, comedy that is short on laughs and high on stupidity. Sadly the buddy comedy doesn’t even push the envelope too much, and instead cobbles together a script that is made out of the greatest hits of every “searching for my dad” comedy every created and mushing together all the sappiest parts of those films into the third act to try and tie together the stupidity that came before it into a sappy, mushy ending.

Father Figures is a bit of a hodgepodge comedy for sure, and even the leads aren’t really sure what to make of it. The film is SUPPOSED to be in the vein of The Hangover (where Ed Helms hails from), Road Trip, Due Date and goofy fare like that, but is so conflicted that you almost can’t categorize it by itself. Ed Helms is Peter Reynolds, a depressed and mopey father who is dissatisfied with being a proctologist and wants something more from life. His free loving fraternal twin brother Kyle is the literal exact opposite. A care free rich kid who’s lived his whole life blowing money he’s made from his BBQ sauce company. When they come together for their mother, Helen’s (Glenn Close), wedding they kick start a giant snowball when it comes to light that their “dead” father may not actually be dead.

You see, it was the 1970s and free love was everywhere, so Helen really isn’t DEADLY sure about who the father was. However, she CAN nail it down to a certain time period and MOST LIKELY their dad is Terry Bradshaw (played by himself). Jumping in the car and trying to find some sort of validation for their lives, Peter and Kyle jet off to Miami to meet their dad. Only thing is, Terry Bradshaw isn’t their dad, and as they narrow down the clues, the twins start jumping from one potential father to another until they slowly begin to tighten the noose (or at least run out of potential dads) leading up to a sappy eyed climax.

Ugggg, I’m not sure where to begin. Father Figures is a giant mess of a film that really has no idea what type of movie it wants to be. On one hand it tries so VERY hard to be that goofy “buddy” road trip movie filled with hijinks and sexual misadventures to yuck yuck about. On the other side of the coin, it wants to bring in the teary eyed dramatic story to have the audience wiping its eyes the entire time. Unfortunately that leads to a movie that leaves the audience feeling vacant and devoid of any real humor. The jokes don’t land nearly as often as they should be, and even the actors seem to be struggling to find their “groove”, so to speak. Helms and Wilson try their best, but they just seem weary and fatigued in their roles.

Father Figures is the epitome of “how to make a lazy Hollywood movie”, coming in just under the line with Bad Moms Christmas and pretty much any Adam Sandler movie these days. Everything is cookie cutter to the extreme (ranging from the interactions to the actual performances from the leads). Nothing is ever in any jeopardy, and the comedic humor just falls flatter than a suicide jump from the top of the Eiffel tower. Clunky, boring, and desperately farming for laughs that are never going to come, Father Figures just coasts on by with a mediocre viewing experience, whose cardinal sin is that it’s neither good, now so awful that it’s memorable. Instead it just exists in that sort of filmic purgatory known as “wait? I’ve never heard of that?” because of the simple generic makeup of the whole thing.




Rating:

Rated R for language and sexual references throughout




Video:

In this day and age it’s REALLY hard to put out a dramatically sub par product with a major studio backing you. Even though I can’t find any information from the usual sources about the cameras used, or the digital intermediate resolution for the master, but I can safely assume we’re talking digital cameras and a 2K resolution master (might be 4K, who knows as we don’t get a 4K UHD release). Father Figures is a bright and glossy affair, with clean details and more than enough sharpness to be pleasing to most people. Fine details are solid all the way around, and colors are warm and sunny throughout. The film IS a bit soft on the big screen, but never so soft as to be dramatically out of the ordinary, but right on par with your average comedy. All in all, a pleasing looking transfer from Warner Brothers.






Audio:

Right on par with the video, the 5.1 DTS-HD MA track is one that will please everyone, but stun no one. Comedy films are never known for gigantically spacious sound stages, or thunderous bass, but like man, Father Figures does well enough to be pleasant and acceptable to 99% of viewers. The dialog is the front and center star of the movie, and the center channel doesn’t disappoint. The mains get a healthy workout with the brother duo making havoc along the way, and even some decent LFE bleeding through every now and then. Surround usage is sparse, but effective, and there’s not a whole lot negative I can say about the track. It is your typical comedy track, with a solid front heavy mix, and enough diversity to make it full and inviting.








Extras:

• Deleted Scenes
• Gag Reel (Blu-ray Exclusive)

Final Score: ​

Supposed to be released in 2016, and then shelved till summer of 2017, and then FINALLY released in the winter of 2017 to fight Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Father Figures was a movie that most people saw failing from a mile way. The film sadly was a gigantic flop for Warner, netting less ticket sales than it’s actual budget (and to make a profit you have to make MUCH more than the listed budget as most people know), and really is just a desperate attempt at pushing a comedy out the door. In all honesty, you could package up Father Figures to any studio with the same plot, the same editing, and the same actors and you’d never know the difference. The lack of heart and soul is….well….disheartening, and the movie experience isn’t enough to really warrant a rental from this reviewer. The audio and video specs are solid enough for a modern day film, but the movie itself is one that you should probably just skip.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Owen Wilson, Ed Helms, Glenn Close
Directed by: Lawrence Sher
Written by: Justin Malen
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, French, Spanish, English SDH DD 5.1
Subtitles:English SDH, French, Spanish
Studio: Warner Brothers
Rated: R
Runtime: 113 minutes
Blu-Ray Release Date: Own Father Figures on Blu-ray Combo Pack and DVD on April 3, or Own It Early on Digital on Now!

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• Michael Scott
• May 11, 2017

Recommendation: Skip It

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. Will skip it per your recommendation.

 

[Todd Anderson]

No heart and soul....

Well, that spells “pass” in my world. Thanks for another honest review!