Parental Guidance Reviews

Poor Crystal. There remains a scintilla of dignity in his sad clown. He may beatbox while wearing wraparound sunglasses, but, thankfully for you and yours, he does not dance the robot.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5

Parental Guidance is a lightweight piece of family-friendly fluff in every meaning of the phrase.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5

Offers a confused and flat portrayal of generational differences.

Full Review | Original Score: .5/4

Protests the entitlement of children by shamelessly promoting the entitlement of condescending grandparents.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/10

An extended "in my day" joke intended to convey the superiority of old people over a lot of supposedly contemporary behavior that doesn't actually exist in real life.

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Family fluff at its fluffiest

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5

The latest in a long run of 2012 films to confront the indignities of ageing, this one is arguably, if not intentionally, the most harrowing.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5

A yappy pile-up of grandparents-know-best shtick, gross-out bathroom humor and sentimental claptrap.

Full Review | Original Score: 1.5/5

It's hard to say what's worse: the sneering disdain for modern child-rearing tactics or the hacky generation-clash humor.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5

However, most of the conflicts aren't really ever fleshed out, and the movie dedicates just as much energy to Crystal getting hit in the groin with a bat as it does to satisfactorily resolving much of anything.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5

It is with deep regret that the last film I review for 2012 be Andy Fickman's Parental Guidance, wherein Billy Crystal is struck in the testicles with a baseball bat, and then proceeds to vomit on a child out of agony.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5

This grating family comedy resembles a sitcom in its flat lighting, patronizing music cues, and frames supplying little visual information apart from the actors' mugging faces.

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I just wish it was funnier and smarter. I wish it had better production values, more interesting locations, and quirkier personalities. (Full Content Review for Parents also available)

Full Review

The family friendliest movie comedy this holiday season is also the sappiest and schmaltziest. And thanks to Billy Crystal, the shtickiest.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4

Crystal puts on his game face, and tries to muscle his way past the lousy material, but there's only so much even a natural funnyman can do in a situation like this.

Full Review | Original Score: D

...this flick is so desperate to be hip that it ultimately feels as relevant as "Mr. Belvedere"... If you have to ask what that is, then you probably won't enjoy this movie.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/10

Shtick-y and utterly synthetic

Full Review | Original Score: D

Say what you will about The Guilt Trip, another pairing of a nebbishy comic and a diva of a certain age, that movie at least offers two recognizable human beings of different generations meeting in the middle and learning something from each other.

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Midler does her best as a put-upon grandma but, ultimately, Parental Guidance feels dated.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5

Just as ghastly as it sounds.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5