Father Hood

Rating:
Summary: Great movie
Review: Fun, sweet and heartwarm movie. Real fun and touches on some important issues that need more attention

Rating:
Summary: how good this movie
Review: I seen this movie on saturday the 24 2002. This movie is soo good by the acting It's as pretty alot of action in this flick.
patrick swayne play a good role with his kids. But the kids were driving him insane. This movie deathly need to come on dvd it would be a better picture and better sound. The dvd makers need to create a version of this movie fast hopefully it should come out this year or next year that will be will good if it come out between that time. When it come's out I'll will be happy.

Rating:
Summary: How good the movie
Review: I seen this movie on saturday the 24 2002. This movie is soo good by the acting. There's pretty alot of action in this flick and pretty funny too. patrick swanye play a good role with his kids. They deathly need a dvd version of this movie I want it soo bad it would be a better picture. They should been create this movie on dvd too bad it's not on dvd yet. maybe this year or next year to be on dvd cause the dvd makers need to bring this out fast it's a real good movie maybe someday i have on dvd when it come out I be real sice.

Rating:
Summary: Funny Stuff
Review: I've seen most of Patrick Swayze's movies and I really enjoy his characters. However, they're usually kind of serious and intense, with a rather "cool" quality. I never imagined him being manic and funny--the exact opposite of most of his more well-known characters. Well, to my surprise, he was terrific. The script has some gaping holes, but Swayze's portrayal of Jack Charles is a totally enjoyable experience. Anyone who is a Swayze fan will enjoy this movie (which even contains a tiny segment of him dancing in front of a mirror).

Rating:
Summary: noooooo
Review: Jack Charles (Patrick Swayze) is a small time crook with a glib answer for every question and two kids in foster care. When his daughter, Kelly (Sabrina Lloyd), escapes from juvenile hall and locates her father, Jack tries his hardest to get rid of her, but she persuades him to look for his son, Eddie (Brian Bonsall), who is being placed in the same unpleasant place she escaped from, where children are handcuffed and abused. Recognizing the conditions Eddie could be subjected to, Jack kidnaps him from the authorities at gun point, then goes on the run with both kids in tow.

If Father Hood is any indication, road pictures have become a worn-out genre. It's a mystery to me why films like this get made. Do we really need to spend ninety minutes following the misadventures of two children and an adult (who often displays less maturity than his offspring) as they run around the country trying to get to know one another? How many hundreds of movies and television shows have had the same plot?

There is little to relieve the tedium of this film, except an impressive performance by little-known actress Sabrina Lloyd. Hopefully, someone will give her a shot in something where she'll have an opportunity to catch someone's attention.

If I had cared about the characters, perhaps the plot implausibilities wouldn't have bothered me as much, but no one in this film manages to grab more than a token amount of sympathy -- especially not Jack, who is an annoying, arrogant jerk. Give Patrick Swayze credit (if you want to call it that) for playing this guy with the right amount of sleaze to get the audience to actively dislike him. Unfortunately, when he turns over a new leaf (as is inevitable), it's tough to accept.

The two kids have their moments. Actually, I should say that Lloyd's Kelly has her moments. Eddie, as played by Brian Bonsall, is pretty much a nonentity. The script tries aggravatingly hard to manipulate the audience into sympathizing with them. Movies of substance rarely resort to such blatant emotional trickery.

Father Hood comes complete with a social message that's as old as Dickens' Oliver Twist. Foster care in the United States has come under increasing scrutiny in recent years as more and more cases of abuse are revealed. While I would support a movie that grapples with the problem sensitively and intelligently, this is not that film. It takes a good-guy, bad-guy approach to the situation and presents it from a decidedly singleminded viewpoint designed to stir the viewer's emotions, not make him or her think about the seriousness of what's going on. In fact, the low quality of Father Hood may actually sabotage the message it's trying to get across.

Recently, an Italian film called Il Ladro di Bambini (Stolen Children) covered a lot of the same ground. That too was a road film featuring an older, somewhat callous guardian and the two children he was entrusted with. The similarities extend no further than plot structure and character background, because Il Ladro di Bambini is an excellent feature, and watching it only magnifies Father Hood's numerous faults.

There may not have been many like me, but I was actually impressed by Patrick Swayze's performance in City of Joy. I thought he took a big step towards advancing beyond his popcorn-and-soda reputation. But with the release of this ugliness, I may have to admit being mistaken. And "mistake" is a key word here, because that's exactly what this entire production is.

Rating:
Summary: Must see if you like Patrick Swayze!!
Review: Swayze is a rebellous ex-con who goes on an adventure with his kids who were stick in foster care. Films shows Patrick in a gruff role, but he ends up being cute and funny in this film as always.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Cast and Funny Script = A Great Movie!
Review: This very humorous and touching movie is about a self-centered hood, who is just days away from pulling off the biggest hiest of his life, when his big plans are unexpectedly hindered by his 2 children who are suddenly back in his care. The fact that his kids have had a bad experience in foster care does not make this movie hard to take as a comedy, but it allows the viewer to see that even a hood will try to do right by his kids, although in his own way. The conflict facing the father is that of being content with his life of crime and having no kids around to hinder that lifestyle, but at the same time, loving his kids enough come to their rescue when he learns they were mistreated in foster care. The kids long for their father to be "a father" to them while it is clear that his primary concern is for himself and that the lifestyle he has been used to for years, has no room for kids. This situation is portrayed brilliantly by all of the actors involved. So, what is funny about this movie? For one thing, the irony of having a father being the mischievous kid-like charachter getting into trouble while his children are down to earth, seeking a stable family life, but the humor in the movie is very compentently mixed with the problems faced by the kids, which are never made light of. Secondly, the very presense of the kids is disruptive to the father's lifestyle, which he sees as being more important than his role as father. His utter love of self, in contrast to his kids love of their dad ("Don't call me that!") is presented in such a way as to merge conflict and confrontation with a faint hope throughout, that they just might make it as a family one day.