Fathers’ Day (1997)
40%RT Audience Score: 25%
Awards & Nominations: 1 nomination
A maudlin misfire, Father’s Day manages the difficult task of making Billy Crystal and Robin Williams woefully unfunny
Father’s Day is a movie that tries to be funny, but ends up being a bit of a dad joke. Robin Williams and Billy Crystal are a great comedic duo, but even they can’t save this weak script. The story is hyper and brash, but not in a good way. It’s like a bad dad joke that just keeps going and going until you’re ready to roll your eyes and walk away. Save yourself the trouble and spend Father’s Day doing something else.
Production Company(ies)
Why Not Productions, Chic Films, Page 114
Distributor
NA
Release Type
Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
Reno/Tahoe International Airport – 2001 E. Plumb Lane, Reno, Nevada, USA
MPAA / Certificate
Rated PG-13 for some sex-related humor and drug references
Year of Release
1997
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:DTS Dolby Digital SDDS
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Aspect ratio:2.35 : 1
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Runtime:NA
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Language(s):English
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): May 9, 1997 Original
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 5, 2011
Genre(s)
Comedy/Drama
Keyword(s)
starring Billy Crystal, Robin Williams, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Nastassja Kinski, Charlie Hofheimer, Bruce Greenwood, directed by Ivan Reitman, written by Lowell Ganz, Babaloo Mandel, produced by Joel Silver, Ivan Reitman, comedy, drama, PG-13, box office performance, budget, reviewed by Carol Buckland, Joe Morgenstern, Desson Thomson, Michael Wilmington, Steven Rea, Robert Dominguez, MPAA rating, lawyer, artist, affair, missing son, fatherhood, Sugar Ray, Mel Gibson cameo, My Two Dads premise, ad libs, improvisation, Valuable Lessons, huggy moments, sexual innuendo, implacable unfunniness, maudlin misfire, painful, tedious, awful, contrived, pointless, weak script, poor pacing, predictable, unfunny, comedy dream team, Sugar Ray-obsessed teenage wastoid, non-hijinx, drags on, Robin Williams shtick, Billy Crystal shtick, Nastassja Kinski terrible performance, Charlie Hofheimer missing son, Collette Andrews, Bob Andrews
Worldwide gross: $28,598,376
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $53,309,685
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,299
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 5,813,488
US/Canada gross: $28,598,376
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $53,309,685
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,044
US/Canada opening weekend: $8,776,159
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $16,359,470
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 747
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $85,000,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $158,446,873
Production budget ranking: 199
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $85,323,641
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): -$190,460,829
ROI to date (est.): -78%
ROI ranking: 1,864
Billy Crystal – Jack Lawrence
Julia Louis-Dreyfus – Carrie Lawrence
Nastassja Kinski – Collette Andrews
Charlie Hofheimer – Scott Andrews
Bruce Greenwood – Bob Andrews
Director(s)
Ivan Reitman
Writer(s)
NA
Producer(s)
Joel Silver, Ivan Reitman
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
1 nomination
Academy Awards
All Critics (61) | Top Critics (25) | Fresh (15) | Rotten (46)
Father’s Day has a few laugh-out-loud sequences, but it’s nothing to celebrate.
July 14, 2014
Carol Buckland
CNN.com
TOP CRITIC
A movie of implacable unfunniness.
July 14, 2014
Joe Morgenstern
Wall Street Journal
TOP CRITIC
For the comic actors, this project — an enjoyable synthesis of improvisation and adherence to the original story — seems almost too easy. You wonder why it took them so long.
July 14, 2014
Desson Thomson
Washington Post
TOP CRITIC
Williams and Crystal often supply, through their ad libs, what the writers may have left out.
July 14, 2014 | Rating: 3/4
Michael Wilmington
Chicago Tribune
TOP CRITIC
Hey, it sounded good on paper.
July 14, 2014 | Rating: 2/4
Steven Rea
Philadelphia Inquirer
TOP CRITIC
Despite some laughs, there’s not much of a story. But at least Williams and Crystal, old pals off the screen, seem to be enjoying themselves.
July 14, 2014 | Rating: 2.5/4
Robert Dominguez
New York Daily News
TOP CRITIC
It’s a wonder that these stars couldn’t produce a funnier result, even with the faults of a weak script and poor pacing.
September 11, 2020 | Rating: 2/10
Mike Massie
Gone With The Twins
This thoroughly sad and lazy comedy pairs Robin Williams and Billy Crystal as would-be fathers searching for a Sugar Ray-obsessed teenage wastoid. Unfunny non-hijinx ensue.
August 4, 2020 | Rating: 1/5
Daniel Barnes
Dare Daniel
Fathers’ Day scoots along pleasantly but never rises above its My Two Dads sitcom premise.
July 14, 2014
Leah Rozen
People Magazine
This had the potential to be hilarious, but instead falls alarmingly flat thanks to a weak and jokeless script that even the combined comedic talents of Williams and Crystal can’t perk up.
July 14, 2014 | Rating: 2/5
Jo Berry
Radio Times
Likable performances, but the story’s brash and hyper, though sweet, delivery grows wearing, especially the sexual innuendo.
July 14, 2014
Katherine Dillin
Christian Science Monitor
The plot is full of the kind of holes necessary to set up cream-puff moments where everybody turns huggy and learns Valuable Lessons. Ugh.
July 14, 2014
Rod Dreher
South Florida Sun-Sentinel…
Plot
Jack Lawrence is a smart aleck lawyer who is one day visited by an ex-girlfriend who tells him her kid was his. Enter Dale Putley, a depressed goofball who is also a writer, meets with the same ex-girlfriend who tells him her kid is his. One day Jack and Dale meet and discover what had happened: they’ve been told the same story and now there’s a question of who the real father is. They learn their son is following a rock band called Sugar Ray around. So Jack and Dale hit the road to Sacramento and find their drunk, love-struck son. Soon after they bring him back to their hotel room, their son escapes and Jack and Dale must use teamwork to find him again, bring him home, and find out which one of them is the real father.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
The film stars Billy Crystal and Robin Williams, two comedic powerhouses who unfortunately fail to deliver in this maudlin misfire.
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