Directed by Andy Flickman
Starring Billy Crystal, Bette Midler
It took decades for showbiz veterans Billy Crystal and Bette Midler to star in a film together; unfortunately their first big-screen outing is a forgettable mess.
When helicopter parents Alice (Marisa Tomei) and Phil (Tom Everett Scott) leave town for a work commitment, they enlist the help of grandparents Artie (Crystal) and Diane (Midler) to take care of their three kids. Things soon go awry once old school parenting techniques clash with 21st century child behaviour.Hilarity is apparently supposed to ensue but it never even comes close, in fact most of the films gags result in awkward moments, potty humour and recurring jokes that overstay their welcome; case in point, one of the kids is obsessed with calling Artie Fartie.
Crystal and Midler have decent chemistry and even exhibit some genuine whimsy in a touching scene where they perform an a cappella duet of The Book of Love. Sadly though, the rest of the movie is chock-full of clichéd bits, classic overacting courtesy of the overbearing Tomei and terribly weak writing.One of the films failed attempts at comedy includes Crystal being hit in the crotch with a baseball bat before proceeding to vomit on a young child; a painfully jarring example of the lowbrow comedy the actors are forced to endure throughout the film.
Crystal and Midler may provide some laughs and there is a decent comedy buried somewhere in this schlocky muck but Parental Guidance closes out 2012 on a rather silly and unnecessary note.
