Since its initial run I'm one of those unapologetic Full House fans. I adore the show and have watched it countless times any chance I get. I'm completely beside myself waiting for "Fuller House" next year so I was actually excited about Lifetime's latest attempt at making a mockery out of something I loved like they did with the Saved By The Bell story. That was bad but you can only expect bad from the Lifetime film. So my expectations were reasonable because I expected this to be absolutely terrible and guess what? It wasn't. I mean it wasn't great and its so far removed from a mainstream cinematic movie but it was watchable, entertaining, decently cast and covered a lot of ground. I'm sure some of it was not true and they twisted things to make it more dramatic but it was still sweet, showed them as a family and gave some basic insight to what behind the scenes might have been like. Probably the worst thing about these movies is that the cast has to try and literally BE the characters they portray. I think you can play a character without being a carbon copy of them. That being said, this cast actually does a decent job of looking, sounding and acting like the original people. It was fun and simple and actually paid homage to the original show.
Garrett Brawith plays Bob Saget and I think he does a solid job. He captures Saget's nasty side in a PG movie and shows a real struggle with this role whether or not it was true or not. It showed how different he was than his counterpart. Justin Mader is Dave Coulier and while he doesn't get as much screen time it seems as the others, he certainly fits the role well. It would have been nice to have an actor that could do some of Coulier's voices or his comedy routines which you never hear at all (maybe due to rights and licensing?) Justin Gaston is really fantastic as John Stamos although I think (from what I've heard) Stamos was a little more demanding than what they portray here. Still he absolutely looks the role and even sounds the part and gets some decent scenes. Thankfully the three of them have good chemistry which is vital to this story. They actually look like they get along just like Saget, Coulier and Stamos did and still do. Stephanie Bennett has a very small role as Lori Loughlin, Shelby Armstrong is very good as the younger DJ, Dakota Guppy, Blaise Todd, Kinslea Todd, Calla Jones, Tyla Jones, Kylie Armstrong, and Jordan Armstrong all fulfil their roles well. They have small roles but they look the part and it works.
Director Brian Roberts comes from a lot of Television and that might be good for the idea behind the film but it also tends to make the movie feel a little disjointed. When they go off into Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen's contract and how that affected the show, it feels rushed when it was probably such an important part of the back story. Still there was really nothing else left un-turned in the movie. I don't think it was shocking at all or disrespectful. The Full House cast tweeted how bad this was but it does nothing to them and keeps their reputations in tact, doesn't attack anyone and the only person I thought came out of it looking like a jerk was Matthew Kevin Anderson as Jeff Franklin. It made his goodbye speech seem odd because he acted like he was angry and hated them up until that point. This was heads and tails above the Saved By The Bell film and its made quickly to appease us viewers that want something dumb to watch. Lifetime is what it is, you should know what to expect. 6.5/10
Garrett Brawith plays Bob Saget and I think he does a solid job. He captures Saget's nasty side in a PG movie and shows a real struggle with this role whether or not it was true or not. It showed how different he was than his counterpart. Justin Mader is Dave Coulier and while he doesn't get as much screen time it seems as the others, he certainly fits the role well. It would have been nice to have an actor that could do some of Coulier's voices or his comedy routines which you never hear at all (maybe due to rights and licensing?) Justin Gaston is really fantastic as John Stamos although I think (from what I've heard) Stamos was a little more demanding than what they portray here. Still he absolutely looks the role and even sounds the part and gets some decent scenes. Thankfully the three of them have good chemistry which is vital to this story. They actually look like they get along just like Saget, Coulier and Stamos did and still do. Stephanie Bennett has a very small role as Lori Loughlin, Shelby Armstrong is very good as the younger DJ, Dakota Guppy, Blaise Todd, Kinslea Todd, Calla Jones, Tyla Jones, Kylie Armstrong, and Jordan Armstrong all fulfil their roles well. They have small roles but they look the part and it works.
Director Brian Roberts comes from a lot of Television and that might be good for the idea behind the film but it also tends to make the movie feel a little disjointed. When they go off into Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen's contract and how that affected the show, it feels rushed when it was probably such an important part of the back story. Still there was really nothing else left un-turned in the movie. I don't think it was shocking at all or disrespectful. The Full House cast tweeted how bad this was but it does nothing to them and keeps their reputations in tact, doesn't attack anyone and the only person I thought came out of it looking like a jerk was Matthew Kevin Anderson as Jeff Franklin. It made his goodbye speech seem odd because he acted like he was angry and hated them up until that point. This was heads and tails above the Saved By The Bell film and its made quickly to appease us viewers that want something dumb to watch. Lifetime is what it is, you should know what to expect. 6.5/10