This movie was so bad that the only recommendation they could find for the DVD cover was "The best family comedy of the year!" from the (I think nonexistent) Film Advisory Board.
The original (with Lucille Ball, Henry Fonda, and Van Johnson) was on Turner Classic Movies recently. While not a classic or a work of art, it was solidly made and from what I remember told the story of this blended family in a fairly accurate manner.
The remake has so little to do with the original that it could have been written with different character names and probably nobody would have remembered. At the very least, they should have had the decency to credit as "inspired by" rather than "based upon" the original screenplay. At least they had the decency not to mention Helen Beardsley's book (it's probably out of print, anyway) on the poster.
The first mystery about it is how four producing entities (Paramount, Nickelodeon Films, MGM and Columbia) could blow $45 MILLION on a movie that looks so cheap. Where in the world did that money go? No flying saucers, no earthquakes, no aliens. Some $40 plus million either went into somebody's pockets or up somebody's nose. It sure didn't show on screen.
And whose idea was it to get all those "politically correct" adopted and foster children in there? I guess this was a ploy to trick minority audiences out of their hard-earned money to see this. And since the Asian boy was gay I guess they got one more notch on their PC gun belt.
The worst part was realizing that since Dennis Quaid and Rene Russo are both over forty this is what they have to settle for to get lead roles. Talk about a waste of talent. I'd hate to have heard the dinner table conversation when they got home at night after a day on the set. Add Linda Hunt (that Oscar can't get her decent parts?) and Rip Torn: thankfully they don't have all that much screen time.
I notice that the viewer rating for the original film is twice what the rating for this one is. Obviously many other people feel the same way I do.
The original (with Lucille Ball, Henry Fonda, and Van Johnson) was on Turner Classic Movies recently. While not a classic or a work of art, it was solidly made and from what I remember told the story of this blended family in a fairly accurate manner.
The remake has so little to do with the original that it could have been written with different character names and probably nobody would have remembered. At the very least, they should have had the decency to credit as "inspired by" rather than "based upon" the original screenplay. At least they had the decency not to mention Helen Beardsley's book (it's probably out of print, anyway) on the poster.
The first mystery about it is how four producing entities (Paramount, Nickelodeon Films, MGM and Columbia) could blow $45 MILLION on a movie that looks so cheap. Where in the world did that money go? No flying saucers, no earthquakes, no aliens. Some $40 plus million either went into somebody's pockets or up somebody's nose. It sure didn't show on screen.
And whose idea was it to get all those "politically correct" adopted and foster children in there? I guess this was a ploy to trick minority audiences out of their hard-earned money to see this. And since the Asian boy was gay I guess they got one more notch on their PC gun belt.
The worst part was realizing that since Dennis Quaid and Rene Russo are both over forty this is what they have to settle for to get lead roles. Talk about a waste of talent. I'd hate to have heard the dinner table conversation when they got home at night after a day on the set. Add Linda Hunt (that Oscar can't get her decent parts?) and Rip Torn: thankfully they don't have all that much screen time.
I notice that the viewer rating for the original film is twice what the rating for this one is. Obviously many other people feel the same way I do.