FATHER FIGURES
US, 2017, 113 minutes, Colour.
Owen Wilson, Ed Helms, Glenn Close, Harry Shearer, Terry Bradshaw, J.K.Simmons, Katt Williams, Christopher Walken, June Squibb, Katie Aselton, Jack Mc Gee, Ving Fhames.
Directed by Laurence Sher.
Two 40 year old men, who are revealed to be twins, definitely not identical, played by Owen Wilson and Ed Helms, go to their mother’s wedding ceremony. So far, so all right. But Peter, Helms, is an extremely uptight doctor, expert proctologist, divorced and with a son who doesn’t like him, takes the opportunity to ask his mother about their father about whom she has never spoken. Kyle, Wilson, on the other hand is, well, Owen Wilson as in so many of his films, laid-back, easy-going, getting a huge royalties income from the fact that a photo of him as a surfer has been on millions of sauce bottles.
Mother is played by Glenn Close. She has stories about the 1970s, the easy morals, the promiscuity, doubts about paternity… But, she gives them a clue, sending them on a quest, something significant because the two have had difficulties in getting on, Peter, the older, being severely protective and Kyle, the younger, needing a father figure. At this stage, his Hawaiian girlfriend, reveals that she is pregnant so finding a father figure is significant.
Luckily, money and buying tickets is not a problem! Following the clue, off they go to Miami, tracking down a famous football player from the 1970s, Terry Bradshaw. Non-football fans will get a surprise at the final credits to find that Terry Bradshaw is being played by – Terry Bradshaw. The twins are excited, have always been fans of Terry, happy memories of him. Terry takes a shine to Peter and tends to ignore Kyle. Anyway, you will have to see the movie to get the details, but he is not the one.
Next candidate is a financier whom Terry and his friends looked down on. They track him down and he turns out to be Roland Hunt, played by J.K. Simmons, not quite the financier they were expecting. In fact, the opposite. He explains that he is involved in repossession of cars and, eagerly, they join him in one of his quests but it turns out that he is a sham and a con man. He is not the one.
Peter is inclined to give up except that Kyle has a theory that the universe is talking to them and that they need to pursue their quest. Actually, the universe responds by getting them stuck in a traffic jam, seeing a hitchhiker and Peter, of course, wanting to look the other way. Kyle, on the other hand, reaches out. Hitchhiker is African- American (so a lot of comments on race issues) who wants to get home to his wife and children for a birthday celebration. Katt Williams is very genial in the role of the hitchhiker, being tied up the brothers in case he is a serial killer, trying to arbitrate in the squabble between the two brothers and, if a reviewer were to claim that they are stuck on a level crossing with the train approaching, the reader would be inclined to disbelieve. But…
Then the universe speaks to them in the form of police who know well the next candidate to be their father. This time they are off to Boston. Kyle has led a very free and easy life in Hawaii. Peter is in no way free and easy but actually gives in to Kyle’s advice in a casual encounter with a sad young woman at a bar. Actually, this leads to even more complications than might have been anticipated and the possibility that their father is a very well-known and respected policeman. But, with a lot of discussions, he is not the one.
They go home, go to see the local vet, Christopher Walken, who put down their pet cat years earlier. They aggressively believe that he must be their father and attack him but mother comes to see them and, there is a twist in the revelation of their parental identity.
Some tears at the end as well as some smiles. Not a must-see but, in many ways, a pleasant enough pastime moving from the raucous, as in so many American comedies, to the moral and moralising.
1. The title? Fathers, paternity, the need for a father figure, the quest? The possibilities?
2. Ohio, ordinary life in the town, the doctor , the doctor and his practice, the mother and her wedding, the vet? The contrast with Hawaii? The musical score?
3. The situation: twins, age, from the 70s, the relationship with their mother? Not identical?
4. Peter, his role as a proctologist, his wife leaving him, clashing with his son, Ethan? The contrast with Kyle, in Hawaii, free, his girlfriend, rubbing noses, the pregnancy? The issue of paternity? Peter with the photo of the actor?
5. Going to the wedding, Helen as a character, her marrying Gene? The ceremony? Peter, on edge, needing to ask about the actor, the clash with Kyle, Helen and her giving them the name of Terry Bradshaw?
6. The decision to go on a quest, having the money? Kyle and his background of the photo, his image being used on the sauce bottles, the royalties? The flights, Kyle’s chatter, Peter serious?
7. Meeting Terry Bradshaw, the actual footballer, his car salesmanship, his wife, the welcome? Taking a shine to Peter, throwing the ball to him instead of Kyle? His friendly neighbour and a chat? The timing for the conception and birth, Terry being away, suggesting they go to Roland?
8. Roland, allegedly wealthy, finding him, living with his mother, his being covered in tattoos, conman? The response? With the keys of the car, tracking down the repossession, the owner and his gun, Roland running, his return, being hit, in hospital? The discussion with Peter and Kyle?
9. Kyle and his theory about the universe speaking to everyone?
10. The hitchhiker, black, Peter and his fear, the crowded freeway, Kyle persuasive, yet their tying him up, his being the back of the car, arbitrating their quarrels? Stuck on the train line, the car being hit, Peter getting out, Kyle surviving, the reconciliation? The police, the information about the potential father? Delivering the hitchhiker home? The universe speaking to them?
11. Peter, hotel, the girl at the bar, flirting, the sexual encounter?
12. Finding the house, the dead policeman, his sons, the daughter and her being the girl in the hotel? Peter upset? The priest, the sense of the wake, Peter upsetting everyone, the sons attacking him? The dead man’s brother, Kevin, explaining the Catholic background, no sex before marriage, therefore not their brothers or sister?
13. Going home, the suggestion they talk to the vet, his having put down the cat? Their attacking him? Arriving, the truth about their mother?
14. Helen and her perspective on forcing them to quest, to relate to each other? The charity work and helping the mother? Their mother’s death? No knowledge of the father? The mystery and their having to accept it?
15. The postscript, one year afterwards, Peter and the girl, Ethan friendly, Kyle and his girlfriend, the baby? Happy ever after?
