Average Rating: 7.2/10
Reviews Counted: 40
Fresh: 37 | Rotten: 3
Bolstered by a delightful cast, Parenthood is a funny and thoughtfully crafted look at the best and worst moments of family life that resonates broadly.
Average Rating: 7.9/10
Critic Reviews: 7
Fresh: 7 | Rotten: 0
Bolstered by a delightful cast, Parenthood is a funny and thoughtfully crafted look at the best and worst moments of family life that resonates broadly.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.2/5
User Ratings: 46,616
This feel-good ensemble comedy tracks a quartet of suburban siblings and their families over the course of a single summer. Hardworking Gil Buckman (Steve Martin) and his stay-at-home wife, Karen (Mary Steeenburgen), have just a few months to help their oldest son, Kevin (Jasen Fisher), overcome his high-strung behavior problems before he'll be relegated to special-education classes. Gil's difficult relationship with his own father, Frank (Jason Robards), has led him to become a would-be
Aug 2, 1989 Wide
Mar 31, 1998
MCA Universal Home Video
All Critics (40) | Top Critics (7) | Fresh (39) | Rotten (3) | DVD (9)
There is something brave and original about piling up most of our worst parental nightmares in one movie and then daring to make a midsummer comedy out of them. It really shouldn't work, but it does.
An ambitious, keenly observed, and often very funny look at one of life's most daunting passages...
Even being the most sensitive parent, the film reminds us, has its limits. No matter how hard you try, you can't live your children's lives for them.
It's a shock, and a welcome one, to see Steve Martin cast against type as a doting dad. Martin's nippy wit continually lifts this movie above the swamp of sentiment.
Punchy entertainment for the open-minded family, the kind that realizes Home Sweet Home is -- well, an interesting idea.
It's the best kind of comedy, where we recognize the truth of what's happening even while we're smiling, and where we eventually acknowledge that there is a truth in comedy that serious drama never can quite reach.
Poignant family dramedy with lots of adult themes.
Howard juggles all the characters effortlessly, showcasing troubles left and right without losing the film to gloom. It's nimble work, blessed with a cast that knows exactly what they're reaching for in their performances.
While Parenthood crosses the border into schmaltz a number of times, the movie runs the gamut of realistic emotions, and one scene or another is bound to hit home with the parents who see the film.
Nothing more than sitcom material stretched to two hours.
Funny, even perceptive, adult/family comedy.
Its very existence means "the best film Ron Howard directed" is, lamentably, not a backhanded compliment.
Parenthood is a middlebrow masterpiece. Not a masterpiece of middlebrow but a middlebrow masterpiece, with the latter word being the subject, not the modifier.
Steve Martin's manically over-conscientious dad steals the film, whether chewing the pitch as his small son fumbles at baseball, or entertaining a kids' party as an unconvincing cowboy.
Ron Howard works magic with this great comedy
One of Ron Howard's best with a great cast.
Ron Howard's pithy and poignant look at domestic disillusionment...a pure joy to behold!
Parenthood is a wonderfully written family film, directed by the infinitely brilliant Ron Howard. Now, I don't have any kids myself, but I can bet the farm on the hypothesis that there's a lot of parents out there who can relate to the situations in this story. I remember when I was a teenager and watched this with my
May 14, 2007Super Reviewer
Julie: He said that he loved me. Helen: Men say that. They all say that. Then they cum. "It could happen to you."There's so much great stuff going on in Ron Howard's Parenthood. The movie is a hilarious take on the serious issues that come from the responsibility. It is kind of like the saying, "If you don't laugh,
November 6, 2011
Super Reviewer
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