''Like Father'' is a 2018 American

dramedy 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

Lauren Miller Lauren Anne Miller Rogen (née Miller; born July 24, 1982) is an American actress, comedian, screenwriter, and director. She has appeared in the films '' Superbad'' (2007), ''Zack and Miri Make a Porno'' (2008), and '' 50/50'' (2011). In 2012, ...

, in her feature-length directorial debut. The film stars

Kristen Bell Kristen Anne Bell (born July 18, 1980) is an American actress. Beginning her acting career by starring in stage productions while attending the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, she made her Broadway stage debut as Becky That ...

Kelsey Grammer Allen Kelsey Grammer (born February 21, 1955) is an American actor and producer. He gained notoriety and acclaim for his role as psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane on the NBC sitcom '' Cheers'' (1984-1993) and its spin-off ''Frasier'' (1993-2004), ...

, and

Seth Rogen Seth Aaron Rogen (; born April 15, 1982) is a Canadian-American actor, comedian and filmmaker. Originally a stand-up comedian in Vancouver, he moved to Los Angeles for a part in Judd Apatow's series ''Freaks and Geeks'', and then got a part on ...

, and follows a woman who must bond with her estranged father on a cruise after she is left at the altar. The film was released on August 3, 2018, by

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

Plot

Rachel (

) is a workaholic young executive New Yorker who takes a work call, right before going down the aisle. The processional music starts, she finally hangs up, stashing the phone in her bouquet and starts the walk. The officiant is her boss, and he shares some personal details about the groom, and then turns to Rachel. Then her phone drops out of the bouquet. The groom realizes she won’t ever really get away from her job and he calls off the wedding. Then, estranged father Harry (

) who Rachel has not seen since she was five years old, is at the wedding and sees it all. He races out and she isn’t far behind. The next day Rachel tries, and fails, to be a professional back in the office. Sent home, she soon binge drinks alone, then Harry catches up with her and they resume in a bar. Spending all night drinking, they make the drunken decision to take the pre-booked Caribbean honeymoon cruise together. The morning after, out at sea, the trip seems somewhat less amusing. The two arrive as strangers, but over the course of a few adventures, a couple of umbrella-clad cocktails and much soul-searching, they return with a renewed appreciation for family and life. Harry is a deadbeat dad and the trip is his road to redemption. Like Rachel, he had been a workaholic, but through being there for his business partner as family he sacrifices his company to care for him. We see a glimpse of Rachel’s big client, a couple, hippie organic former New Yorker potato chip makers, now living upstate. An example of people who abandoned the rat race for a more fulfilling life. And Harry and Rachel bond with the three couples assigned to their dinner table on the cruise: one young, one 50-year-anniversary, and one mid-life newlyweds. A breaking point comes when Rachel insists on being on her phone at a gorgeous secluded waterfall. Throwing it into the water, Harry wakes her up to the realization that she’s missing out on life. They team up in two big cruise competitions, winning both a ‘Newlywed Game’ and the cruise finale silly karaoke number. At first, after the cruise Rachel dives head first into her new role in her advertising company, forgetting any lessons she may have learned. Her breakthrough comes at the very end. She reroutes a trip to meet with their big upstate client for L.A. to help her dad’s move as promised.

Cast

as Rachel Hamilton, Harry's daughter *

as Harry Hamilton, Rachel's father *

as Jeff, a divorced man with whom Rachel has a one night stand. *

Paul W. Downs Paul W. Downs (born November 21, 1982) is an American actor, writer, director, and producer. He is the co-creator, co-showrunner and star of the critically-acclaimed HBO Max series ''Hacks'', for which he has received a Primetime Emmy, Golden G ...

as Jim *

Zach Appelman Zach Appelman (born August 5, 1985) is an American film, television and theatre actor. He is known for portraying Luke Detweiler in the 2013 film '' Kill Your Darlings'', Joe Corbin in the television series '' Sleepy Hollow'', and Alton Finn in t ...

as Steve *

Amber Hodgkiss Amber Caroline Hodgkiss (Born 12 November 1991) is a British people, British actress. Career Her first professional job was the role of Eleanor Smith (Grange Hill), Eleanor Smith in the popular television show Grange Hill. She is known for her r ...

as Ginny * Leonard Ouzts as Dan * Blaire Brooks as Beth *

Anthony Laciura Anthony Laciura (born September 27, 1951) is an American actor and operatic tenor. Laciura is often noted for his abilities as a comprimario, and actor. Born in New Orleans, he studied voice there with Charles Paddock, also the teacher of Ticho ...

as Leonard * Mary Looram as Shirley *

Brett Gelman Brett Clifford Gelman (born October 6, 1976) is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his role as Murray Bauman in Netflix's horror-supernatural series '' Stranger Things'' and as Martin on the BBC comedy ''Fleabag''. Gelman bega ...

as Frank Lerue *

as Tired Woman *

Jon Foster Jon Foster (born August 3, 1984) is an American actor and musician. His films include the drama ''The Door in the Floor'' (2004), the horror film ''Stay Alive'' (2006), the thriller ''Brotherhood'' (2010), and the drama ''Rampart'' (2011). Foste ...

as Owen *

Kimiko Glenn Kimiko Elizabeth Glenn (June 27, 1989) is an American actress and Broadway performer known for portraying Brook Soso in the Netflix series ''Orange Is the New Black'', for which she received three ensemble Screen Actors Guild Awards. She also st ...

as Geena

Production

In July 2017, it was announced that

and

would star in ''Like Father'', the directorial debut of

, who also wrote the screenplay. In June 2018, a trailer for the film was released, which revealed that

would co-star. Lauren Miller produced the film with Anders Bard. Principal photography took place in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

and the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

in August 2017. Some of the film was filmed on Royal Caribbean’s ''

Harmony of the Seas ''Harmony of the Seas'' is an built by STX France at the Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, France, for Royal Caribbean International. With a gross tonnage of 226,963 GT, she is the third largest passenger ship in the ...

''.

Release

''Like Father'' was released on

on August 3, 2018.

Critical response

On the review aggregation 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 ...

, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The site consensus reads, "''Like Father'' unites an alarmingly talented cast for a predictable rom-com that does nothing to counter the negative stereotypes surrounding the genre." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the film has a weighted average score of 52 out of 100, based on reviews from 15 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 7170950 2018 films American comedy films 2018 comedy films English-language Netflix original films Films scored by Roger Neill 2018 directorial debut films Films about father–daughter relationships Films about honeymoon 2010s English-language films 2010s American films