FATHER’S DAY
A 60’s hangover that mistakes dirt for comedy.
Should You Watch It?
Father’s Day has a heart beneath its dirt. Its closing emphasis on fatherhood and paternal responsibility gives the story a worthwhile destination. The premise also offers room for Robin Williams and Billy Crystal to explore two childless men discovering that they want children of their own.
But the journey is one long dirty joke. The comedy repeatedly invites you to laugh and feel embarrassed at the same time, while the film ultimately endorses promiscuity, fornication, adultery, homosexuality, and teenagers involved in sex, drugs, and rock and roll as though everything is acceptable because everybody does it.
The cast is wasted in a minor movie, and the content rating is −2. For your family, skip it.
The Story
NO SPOILERS — WE KEEP THE SURPRISESScott, the beloved son of Bob and Colette, runs away with Nikki, a wild rock-band groupie. Colette turns to two former boyfriends, Jack and Dale, telling each man that he is Scott’s real father and asking him to bring the boy home safely.
The two childless men begin searching separately, then discover each other along the way. Their search becomes an unexpected encounter with responsibility, family, and the possibility of fatherhood.
Is It Any Good?
Two stars means this is a weak, minor comedy with a worthwhile idea buried inside it. The film’s heart is its emphasis on paternal responsibility, and its conclusion underscores the importance of fatherhood.
The rest is largely a string of dirty jokes. The superb cast is wasted and seems one-dimensional. Robin Williams and Billy Crystal had wanted to work together, but, according to the review, they appear to have chosen a project too quickly.
The Worldview
The film presents a 1960s pagan worldview in the middle of the 1990s. It treats promiscuity, fornication, adultery, homosexuality, and teenagers involved in sex, drugs, and rock and roll as acceptable because everybody does it. The review sees this as a serious moral failure, not merely an outdated comic style.
What the film gets right is its final emphasis on fatherhood. Jack and Dale come to recognize their desire for children and the importance of paternal responsibility. But that good theme is surrounded by sexual immorality, crude humor, drinking, smoking, drugs, lying, stealing, fraud, and deception.
The film’s longing for responsible fatherhood points toward a good gift, but its sexual ethic departs sharply from Scripture: “But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints” (Ephesians 5:3).
The Content Guide
The specifics — spoilers included by nature — so you can judge for your own family.
Content Summary
Pagan worldview; 19 obscenities, 8 profanities & excessive sexual talk with homosexual scatological & heterosexual jokes; moderate violence including several scenes of head butting, kicks to the groin & fist fights; revealing clothing; implied fornication; drinking; smoking & drug use; and lying, stealing, fraud & deception
Talk About It
Questions for the drive home, the dinner table, or the youth group.
Why does fatherhood matter, and what responsibilities should a father accept toward his children?
Ephesians 6:4 · Psalm 103:13Does the fact that “everybody does it” make a behavior right? How does Scripture guide us when popular culture normalizes sin?
Romans 12:2 · 1 Thessalonians 5:21–22How can comedy make harmful behavior seem harmless? What should Christians do when entertainment asks them to laugh at what God calls sinful?
Ephesians 5:3–4 · Philippians 4:8The Final Word
The movie has a heart, but its paternal theme cannot redeem a comedy built around dirty jokes and a destructive sexual ethic. The cast is wasted, and the worldview is badly dated. Our answer is simple: SKIP IT. For cleaner family viewing, start here:
