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(1997 feature film)
A hugely hyped vehicle for superstars Robin Williams and Billy Crystal, Fathers' Day offers Bruce Greenwood his first significant part in a major motion picture. He plays Bob Andrews, whose relationship with his teenaged son, Scott (Charlie Hofheimer), forms the basis on which the film's premise is framed. After Scott runs away from home, Bob refuses to go after him, prompting his wife, Collette (Nastassja Kinski), to entice two old flames - Williams and Crystal - into searching for him by telling them the boy might be theirs. All three men set off to find the boy who's run off to San Francisco with a rock 'n' roll groupie. While the two comedians pair up and discover the teenager quite quickly, Bob's car breaks down in a running gag about all that could go wrong doing just that.
Sporting a moustache for severity and adopting mannerisms to add age, Greenwood manages to bring considerable depth to an underwritten part, which seems short-changed through editing rather than scripting. Although there's several sweetly acted scenes with his wife and son, he'll probably be best remembered here for his downhill tumble inside a porta-potty.
The film was released with much fanfare, even luring Greenwood to attend his first Hollywood premiere. Although a box office disappointment - considering the talents involved - the wide distribution most certainly introduced Greenwood to additional fans. They'll have to check his other credits to get his full potential, however, and to see how much the moustache detracts from one of his best features.
Directed by the highly successful Canadian director Ivan Reitman and written by the award winning team of Babaloo Mandel and Lowell Ganz, the script was based on the French movie Les Comperes. Filming took place in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Reno though all Greenwood's scenes were done in L.A.
Available on VHS and DVD.
Silver Pictures / Northern Lights Entertainment; Distributor, Warner Brothers.
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