''Dad'' is a 1989 American

comedy-drama film Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

written and directed by

Gary David Goldberg Gary David Goldberg (June 25, 1944 – June 22, 2013) was an American writer and producer for television and film. Goldberg was best known for his work on ''Family Ties'' (1982–89), ''Spin City'' (1996–2002), and his semi-autobiographical seri ...

and starring

Jack Lemmon John Uhler Lemmon III (February 8, 1925 – June 27, 2001) was an American actor. Considered equally proficient in both dramatic and comic roles, Lemmon was known for his anxious, middle-class everyman screen persona in dramedy pictures, leadin ...

Ted Danson Edward Bridge "Ted" Danson III (born December 29, 1947) is an American actor. He achieved stardom playing the lead character Sam Malone on the NBC sitcom ''Cheers'', for which he received two Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards. He ...

Olympia Dukakis Olympia Dukakis (June 20, 1931 – May 1, 2021) was an American actress. She performed in more than 130 stage productions, more than 60 films and in 50 television series. Best known as a screen actress, she started her career in theater. Not lon ...

Kathy Baker } Katherine Whitton Baker (born June 8, 1950) is an American actress. Baker began her career in theater and made her screen debut in the 1983 drama film '' The Right Stuff''. She received the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Suppor ...

Kevin Spacey Kevin Spacey Fowler (born July 26, 1959) is an American actor. He began his career as a stage actor during the 1980s, obtaining supporting roles before gaining a leading man status in film and television. Spacey has received various accolades ...

and

Ethan Hawke Ethan Green Hawke (born November 6, 1970) is an American actor and film director. He has been nominated for four Academy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards and a Tony Award. Hawke has directed three feature films, three off-Broadway plays, and a doc ...

. It is based on William Wharton's novel of the same name. The original music score was composed by

James Horner James Roy Horner (August 14, 1953 – June 22, 2015) was an American composer. He was known for the integration of choral and electronic elements, and for his frequent use of motifs associated with Celtic music. Horner's first film score was in ...

. The film was produced by

Amblin Entertainment Amblin Entertainment, Inc., formerly named Amblin Productions and Steven Spielberg Productions, is an American film production company founded by director and producer Steven Spielberg, and film producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshal ...

and distributed by

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

Plot

John Tremont is a busy executive. He learns during a meeting that his mother Bette has suffered a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...

and been rushed to the hospital. Flying immediately to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, he ends up becoming a caretaker of his father Jake while Bette is recovering. A retired aerospace industry worker, Jake has become somewhat feeble and totally reliant on his wife, so John attempts to get him more involved in day-to-day things like taking care of the house. Father and son bond. John invites his dad to a business meeting and takes him out for a Bingo game. They play catch with a baseball in the yard. Late one night, college-aged grandson Billy turns up as well. John begins to appreciate while spending quality time with his dad that he has been neglecting his own son. Bette returns home from the hospital. She is a strong, willful woman with little personal warmth. Jake is happy to have everyone around him again during family dinners with the kids, including daughter Annie and son-in-law Mario, but the glum Bette resents the intrusion. One day, Jake discovers blood in his urine and is taken to a doctor. John has a single request at the hospital — to avoid the word "cancer," which terrifies his dad. An arrogant doctor named Santana who feels he knows what is best decides that a patient has a right to know tells Jake. Jake immediately loses his bearings and ends up in a coma. A fiercely protective John stays by his father's side constantly and a more sympathetic doctor named Chad volunteers his help. Jake unexpectedly wakes up one day and seems perfectly fine. Upon coming home, Jake acts reborn and reinvigorated. He confuses his wife by dressing in an odd manner, studying new languages, visiting the neighbors and even wanting sex at night. John feels his dad is just trying to enjoy life, something his bitter mother seems incapable of doing. Something more is definitely wrong with Jake, however. He is having delusions about being the head of a different family on a far-away farm. A psychiatrist concludes that Jake sought joy in a fantasy world while being unable to experience a sufficient amount in his own. Jake has a relapse. In the hospital, he reminisces with his son about things that made him happiest, like work and baseball, before passing away. John, a better man for the experience, returns to his old life.

Cast

as Jake Tremont **Lemmon's son

Chris Chris is a short form of various names including Christopher, Christian, Christina, Christine, and Christos. Chris is also used as a name in its own right, however it is not as common. People with the given name * Chris Abani (born 1966), N ...

played Young Jake in flashbacks *

as John Tremont **Justin Peterson as Young John *

as Bette Tremont **Gina Raymond as Young Bette *

as Annie Tremont **

Sprague Grayden Sprague Grayden (born July 21, 1980) is an American actress. She played schoolteacher Heather Lisinski in the television drama '' Jericho'', Karen Kawalski in ''John Doe'', first daughter Olivia Taylor in the television thriller '' 24'', and K ...

as Young Annie *

as Mario *

as Billy Tremont *

Zakes Mokae Zakes Makgona Mokae (5 August 1934 – 11 September 2009) was a South African-American actor of theatre and film. Life and career Mokae was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, moved to the United Kingdom in 1961, and to the United States ...

as Dr. Chad *

J. T. Walsh James Thomas Patrick Walsh (September 28, 1943 – February 27, 1998) was an American character actor. His many films include ''Tin Men'' (1987), ''Good Morning, Vietnam'' (1987), ''A Few Good Men'' (1992), '' Hoffa'' (1992), ''Nixon'' (1995), ' ...

as Dr. Santana *

Peter Michael Goetz Peter Michael Goetz (born December 10, 1941) is an American actor. Early life and education Goetz was born in Buffalo, New York, the son of Esther L. and Irving A. Goetz, a construction engineer.Richard McGonagle Richard Francis McGonagle (born October 22, 1946) is an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his voice work in various video games, movies and television shows. He is also known for his work by voicing Colonel Taggart in ''Prototype'', O ...

as Victor Walton

Reception

Critical response

''Dad'' currently holds a 55% rating on website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, based on 11 critics with an weighted average of 5.7/10. Hal Hinson of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' wrote, "''Dad'' is a melodramatic plumbing of the relationship between two generations of fathers and sons, and it runs through nearly the entire gamut of emotionally loaded issues, from infirmity and senility to reconciliation and death."

Accolades

received much critical acclaim for his performance. He was nominated for a

Golden Globe Award The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of t ...

. The film was nominated in 1990 for the

Academy Award for Best Makeup The Academy Award for Best Makeup and Hairstyling is the Academy Award given to the best achievement in makeup and hairstyling for film. Traditionally, three films have been nominated each year with exceptions in the early 1980s and 2002 when the ...

(

Ken Diaz Kenneth Diaz is an American make-up artist who has been nominated for 2 Academy Awards for makeup. As well as winning an Emmy for the makeup in ''Star Trek: The Next Generation''. He has done over 80 films and TV shows, including ''The Passion o ...

, Greg Nelson and Dick Smith), which went to ''

Driving Miss Daisy '' Driving Miss Daisy'' is a 1989 American comedy-drama film directed by Bruce Beresford and written by Alfred Uhry, based on his 1987 play of the same name. The film stars Jessica Tandy, Morgan Freeman, and Dan Aykroyd. Freeman reprised his ro ...

''.

References

External links

* *{{AllMovie title, 11943 1989 films 1989 comedy-drama films 1989 directorial debut films Amblin Entertainment films American comedy-drama films Films about cancer Films about families Films about father–son relationships Films about old age Films about parenting Films based on American novels Films based on works by William Wharton (author) Films directed by Gary David Goldberg Films scored by James Horner Films set in Los Angeles Films with screenplays by Gary David Goldberg Universal Pictures films 1980s English-language films 1980s American films English-language comedy-drama films