Parenthood (1989)
Directed by Ron Howard
The story of the Buckman family and friends, attempting to bring up their children. They suffer/enjoy all the events that occur: estranged relatives, the 'black sheep' of the family, the eccentrics, the skeletons in the closet, and the rebellious teenagers.
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What critics compared Parenthood to
This big-hearted but surprisingly nuanced comedy drama about a white couple adopting three Latino siblings has been compared to Parenthood, the Steve Martin movie of 1989, and it certainly has a similar balance between schmaltz, silliness and disarming insight.
Clearly indebted to the more serious efforts of John Hughes or Ron Howard’s Parenthood than most modern day family comedies, Instant Family is one of the most pleasant surprises of not just the holiday season, but of the year in general.
“Instant Family” may be our era’s equivalent of a movie like Ron Howard’s “Parenthood” (1989), which came on as a comedy of parental angst ripped from experience but was, in fact, a tasteful sitcom.
But Sean Anders’ film, based on his own experiences of fostering children, is closer to something like Parenthood than a broad knockabout comedy with a cloying message tacked on.
If the film only addressed those subjects, it would still be a fine example of its form, a smart, rueful Parenthood successor.
Hay un abismo entre esta cinta y, por ejemplo, Parenthood , de Ron Howard.
The very first line Steve Martin says about the character played by 15-year-old Joaquin (then going by Leaf) in the movie Parenthood is, “There’s a kid with problems.”
Seriously, I think this is the first time I can remember seeing Phoenix smile on camera since “Parenthood.”
Even operating at only half power, Howard has produced work more watchable than that of most directors, nothing-to-sneeze-at entertainments such as Night Shift , Parenthood , The Paper (which foreshadowed the current print journalism crisis) and The Missing .
As the ’80s progressed, Howard created various memorable films like Splash, Cocoon, Willow and Parenthood.
None exude the energy or personality of his small but wonderfully entertaining films from the '80s (Night Shift, Splash, Cocoon, Parenthood).
Yet the man whose credits include “Cocoon,” “Frost/Nixon,” “A Beautiful Mind,” “Parenthood” and “Apollo 13” should be treated at least as well as some of the artistes whose unwatchable movies get routinely praised.
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Director Ron Howard (1989's "Parenthood") obviously shows an adoration for the story he is telling, but it is the screenplay by Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman that proves fairly uneven.
Who would have thought Ron Howard -- director of such soft-centered, mushy fare as "Cocoon" and "Parenthood" -- could come up with something as imaginative and charming as the new live-action adapatation of Dr. Seuss' "How the Grinch Stole Christmas"?
Though this may not sound like business as usual for the director of "Parenthood" and "Apollo 13," Howard in fact has invested more in creating these dark moments than in ensuring that his actors invest themselves in their roles.
Ron Howard, the multi-talented, omni-successful actor/director/producer who has turned out such important and impactful films as Willow, Parenthood, and Apollo 13, and such disposable, silly films as Gung Ho and How The Grinch Stole Christmas , has added another thoughtful piece to his impressive résumé with A Beautiful Mind, the true story of Nobel Prize-winning mathematician and paranoid schizophrenic John Nash.
With "A Beautiful Mind," Howard achieves the balance that has eluded him for years in directing sappy, feel-good movies such as "Cocoon" and "Parenthood."
Written by the veteran comedy writing team of Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel ('70s sitcoms Laverne & Shirley and Happy Days and the movies City Slickers and Parenthood), the movie's one-liners are sometimes funny, other times flat.
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In 1994, he was the man who followed "Parenthood" and "Backdraft" with the ill-conceived Cruise/Kidman movie "Far and Away" and the god-awful "The Paper."
Howard has made a career of expanding the family values of situation comedy into big-screen dramas like "Cocoon," "Parenthood" and "The Paper.