Like father, like son
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Like father, like son |
| Original title | Like Father Like Son |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1987 |
| length | 92 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Rod Daniel |
| script |
Lorne Cameron , Steve Bloom |
| production |
Brian Grazer , David Valdes |
| music | Miles Goodman |
| camera | Jack N. Green |
| cut | Lois Freeman-Fox |
| occupation | |
| |
Like Father Like Son is a 1987 American comedy film .
action
The archaeologist Earl limps badly injured through the desert and is on the verge of collapse when he can just be saved by an Indian. He sees his severe deep cut on his shin and shoulders Earl so he can bring him to his trunk. Earl can hardly speak because of the pain and is on the verge of death, so an ancient serum is brewed so that he can swap his mind with that of the Indian who saved him. The Indian spends time in Earl's body during the operation, while Earl's mind rests in the Indian's body. Enthusiastic about this magic, he takes some samples of the serum with him and reproduces them.
Dr. Jack Hammond is the single father of his son Chris Hammond and wants only the best for him. While he is trying to get the job of chief doctor in his hospital, he tries to get his son to study medicine too. Jack has no problem submitting to his career. Not only is he one of the best cardiologists , but he has no qualms about turning people away without health insurance or flirting with his boss's wife. Chris, on the other hand, cannot even cut open dead animals, concentrate in class or even talk to his secret crush Lori with half confidence . He's a teenager who would rather live than work.
His best friend Trigger tells Chris that his uncle Earl has a brain transfer serum, but he thinks it's nonsense and doesn't believe him. However, since Trigger wants to convince him that the serum really exists, he branches off a bit and smuggles it to Chris in a Tabasco bottle. Jack comes home unexpectedly and Trigger has to hide the bottle quickly. When Jack then mixes a Bloody Mary , he randomly adds this bottle, causing him and Chris to swap bodies. Both are horrified and don't even know what to do with the situation. Trigger promises to take care of it and contact his uncle Earl. But this one has long since left and is unreachable. While Jack is still thinking about how he should best cope with his situation, Chris uses it and takes his father's credit card in order to be able to afford expensive parties as well as expensive clothes. Only women he cannot afford because of his childlike and insecure nature.
When Jack finds out what his son has been doing in his body the next morning, he puts him under house arrest, reports sick to the hospital and decides on the fate of his son in order to take a successful college application into his own hands. He drives to school in his Jaguar and not only impresses his classmates, but also amazes his teachers with his intellect. But unfortunately he overdoes it and not only ruins his son's reputation and becomes a nerd, he also manages to make fun of Chris's secret crush Lori, to lose the important championship race and to be beaten up by Rick Anderson. Chris is also unlucky with his father's life. Not only does he never want to become a doctor, he also has to deal with sick and dying people. He almost sleeps with his boss's wife and so spoils his father's opportunity to become a chief doctor.
After both of them have seen how their other lives have been almost destroyed, they almost get on each other's neck, but Trigger has since found his uncle Earl, who is looking for a root in the desert with them to brew the antidote. But once they find it, the antidote doesn't work. So they have to get each other's life on the right track first. For example, Jack tries to get the right place to study during an interview with a university, while Chris wants to apply and fight for the position of chief doctor. But at this very moment the antidote kicks in and both are transferred back into their bodies. While Chris drops his university place offer and rushes to his father to help him with the application, he lets it go, as he has realized that it is not a career that is important to him, but rather his son.
production
- The John Marshall High School in Los Angeles served as the location for the school scenes. Already Pretty in Pink was shot in the same school. The Mojave Desert and Joshua Tree National Park were also used as sets for the outdoor scenes.
- Jack Starrett played a character named Coach Jennings in the 1965 drama Like Father, Like Son .
criticism
Little can be said about a broad response from critics, as both Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes , two sites that count and evaluate professional film reviews, did not find enough reviews for this film. However, the general public received the film with mixed or negative reactions. Because on rottentomatoes only 36% of 8,421 users found that the film could be rated positively. This in turn is confirmed by the online film archive IMDb , another platform on which normal users can submit their film reviews, because there 2258 users gave the film a bad 4.7 out of 10 possible points (as of May 29, 2011).
Caryn James found in the New York Times that it was easier to believe that this Native American serum existed than that someone had made this movie ("It's easier to believe such a potion exists than to imagine anyone could make this movie live") ). Also, before you can even enjoy the film, you have to ignore a lot of confusions and follies ("To enjoy this movie, you have to overlook a lot of irritations that get in the way of the genuine silliness.").
Roger Ebert despaired in the Chicago Sun-Times , because like father, like son was one of the most hopeless comedies he would have ever seen, which did not surprise him, however, because the conditions for the film were simply not right ("" Like Father Like Son "is one of the most desperate comedies I've ever seen, and no wonder. The movie's premise doesn't work"). If the film had at least been funny, the idiotic plot wouldn't have bothered him either (“Actually, if the movie were funny, the idiot plot wouldn't matter”). He was also annoyed about the director's inability, who just couldn't manage to stage a funny scene or at least bring it to a reasonable end ("The ineptness of director Rod Daniel is sort of stunning. Look at the way he sets up one scene after another and then can't find the laugh, the punch line, or even the end of the scene ").
The lexicon of international films called Wie der Vater, like son a “not very strange mixture of school clothes and hospital comedy”, it was “clichéd and not always tasteful”.
The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung said that the film "consists of a torrent of comical situations, which director Rod Daniel has staged with a lot of verve and fun with surprise effects". However, the film was also criticized, because the director "lets the two actors get caught up in a firework of grimacing and wild gesticulating, which can be clearly seen that the cinematic theme only serves as a vehicle for boulevard-like slapstick."
publication
The film was released in US theaters on October 2, 1987 and already grossed 7.1 million US dollars on its opening weekend. Overall, the film comes in at a total box office income of 34.3 million US dollars, which makes it the 7th most successful film among the films that were written based on the role reversal. With Big , which appeared in the summer of 1988, the most successful role-swapping comedy was published.
In West Germany , the film was released on February 25, 1988 and was able to attract 353,121 viewers to the cinemas, which means that it had almost 100,000 more cinema-goers than the thematically identical film Finally Again 18 . The film was first released on DVD in April 2004 .
Web links
- Like father, like son in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Like father, like son at Rotten Tomatoes (English)
- Like father, like son in the German dubbing index
Individual evidence
- ↑ Like father like son on rottentomatoes.com , accessed May 29, 2011
- ↑ Caryn James : Film: Dudley Moore In 'Like Father Like Son' on nytimes.com October 2, 1987 (English), accessed May 29, 2011
- ↑ Roger Ebert: Like Father Like Son on suntimes.com of October 2, 1987 (English), accessed on May 29, 2011
- ↑ Like father like son. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, April 30, 1988, p. 51
- ↑ Like father, like son on boxofficemojo.com ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed May 29, 2011
- ↑ Like father, like son on insidekino.de , accessed on August 9, 2011
