Fathers' Day (1997)

With Billy Crystal and Robin Williams starring, Ivan Reitman directing, Joel Silver producing, and frequent Crystal collaborators Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel penning the script, it's difficult to figure out why critics hated Fathers' Day so much. Its worst sin is one of conventionality, and it's not even as blatant a practitioner as a dozen other superstar-driven comedies that have been a lot better received. But Fathers' Day was on the business end of such lambasting and it became something of a modern-day Ishtar. Williams and Crystal do play very familiar types -- Williams, a skittish eccentric, Crystal, a businesslike sarcastic -- but the script makes funny use of this odd couple-pairing often enough for it to work. The performances may reek of laurel resting, but for fans contented by familiarity, the actors develop a likeable chemistry. Watching the two dads navigate the underground punk rock scene is good for its share of goofy grins, especially those that result from seeing Mel Gibson with a face full of piercings. A secondary plot involving the disastrous search attempts of Nastassja Kinski's husband, a surprisingly comic Bruce Greenwood, is also grossly humorous. Fathers' Day has become a historical curiosity for pop music fans, as it captures the band Sugar Ray in the waning moments of their old-school, hardcore integrity. Fans will hardly recognize singer Mark McGrath, punked out and screaming his song lyrics. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide