That's My Boy. It's not your conventional Father's Day flick. Then again, he's not your conventional father. He's Donnie Berger (Adam Sandler). Donnie is a guy who never really grew up, but might find a needed push in finding some paternal pride in his scared and scarred son, Han Solo (Andy Samberg).
Meet Donnie. He's got your standard fare story: At the age of 13, he starts having sex with his Math teacher...knocks her up...as such, he's celebrated as a reputed hero, experiencing plenty of fame and fortune from a TV movie, teen mag covers, etc. The trouble is, Donnie is just a kid himself, so he blows through $100,000 like any kid would. Further, he realizes that the novelty of being 'the kid who knocked up the Teach' is gone once he begins to drift further away from puberty. All the while, he raises his kid, promptly named Han Solo Berger as any kid would: poorly! Now, he's facing prison for tax evasion, if he can't come up with a whopping $43k in a mere 72 hours. Fortunately, Han is doing very well. He's a hedge fund manager and quite the success in spite of his dad. Han has lost most of his 400 pounds that he put on while eating a steady sugar diet as a kid. He's even managed to position himself as a partner in his firm despite his numerous anxiety issues.
With all of that in mind, Donnie sets out to coerce Han into making an appearance at his mom's prison, where a talk show host (Dan Patrick) will lie in wait for a reality show set-up. This will earn Donnie a get-out-of-jail-free check to the tune of $50,000. But wait--things get complicated. Father and son start bonding like, well...kinda like father and son. Kinda. Yadayadayada Donnie starts acting a little bit like a dad on his way to helping Han Solo make the kessel run in 12 parsecs...wait, that's THE Han Solo. Donnie helps Han Solo Berger more than he'll ever know.
Ya know, it's pretty entertaining. I'll go with 3.5 Stars on this one. If you follow the Yada, you know that I'm a big Adam Sandler fan. However, our relationship is quite hot and cold. He's either great (like Happy Gilmore or Just Go With It) or absolutely lousy (like Deuce Bigelow or Waterboy). That's My Boy was a unique experience, however. Thirty minutes into this one, it had Deuce Bigelow written all over it. Somewhere along the way, however, it turns a major corner and becomes, not only genuinely funny but a good story as well. Make no mistake about it. This is not a family flick. It may actually be the raunchiest movie I've seen, period. Maybe it was me. Maybe I just adjusted to the raunchy humor; embraced it and began to enjoy the 2-hour ride. I'm not sure. I do know that, ultimately, this was a fun movie.
Part of that fun is the cast. You get Sandler's typical crew (Rachel Dratch, Nick Swardson, etc.), that are staples for his movies. That's My Boy has some added star power. Along with Samberg, there's Tony Orlando and Vanilla Ice, not to mention a cameo role for Todd Bridges. No Oscars going out here, mind you, but it is what it is: a raunchy movie about all kinds of taboo sex and smutty stuff that will make the less uptight laugh and your Aunt Betty cringe, if not pass out. If you fall into the former category...see it BIG; if you're among the latter, save yourself some smelling salt expense and skip it. Actually, I'm glad to be counted among the former group, because once this one turned that corner, it put plenty of smiles on my face.
True...OUT!
P.S. Happy Father's Day, Dad...you are missed every minute of every day!
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