This movie has a lot going for it. Good performers. Shot pretty well. You certainly can't fault the film for not having its heart in the right place.
However, all of the dots don't really connect. Without spoiling too much, I'll just say that there were some very 'Beaches' elements to this... pulling the heart strings in a very manipulative fashion.
Not much surprising in the plot... other than twists that just didn't make all that much sense.
David Paymer and Ryan Reynolds both try their hardest... but they really have to work HARD to get this movie to work. John Astin has a nice cameo and young Andrew Robb also provides a steady presence as the narrator and main character.
Basically, there's a lot of cheap and/or easy plot devices in this story and none of them are really supported very well by the plot. Dying father, awkward kid, embarrassing Dad, teacher-too-cool-for-his-own-good, even down to throwing in a baby at the end of the story.
If you're in the mood for a school flick or something of the same flavor in terms of cool-guy authority figure inspires geek - 1984's "Teachers" or Bill Murray's "Meatballs". Neither one of those is perfect, but they certainly exhibit better storytelling than this.
However, all of the dots don't really connect. Without spoiling too much, I'll just say that there were some very 'Beaches' elements to this... pulling the heart strings in a very manipulative fashion.
Not much surprising in the plot... other than twists that just didn't make all that much sense.
David Paymer and Ryan Reynolds both try their hardest... but they really have to work HARD to get this movie to work. John Astin has a nice cameo and young Andrew Robb also provides a steady presence as the narrator and main character.
Basically, there's a lot of cheap and/or easy plot devices in this story and none of them are really supported very well by the plot. Dying father, awkward kid, embarrassing Dad, teacher-too-cool-for-his-own-good, even down to throwing in a baby at the end of the story.
If you're in the mood for a school flick or something of the same flavor in terms of cool-guy authority figure inspires geek - 1984's "Teachers" or Bill Murray's "Meatballs". Neither one of those is perfect, but they certainly exhibit better storytelling than this.