''That's My Boy'' is a 2012 American

satirical Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or e ...

black comedy Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discus ...

film directed by

Sean Anders Sean Anders (born June 19, 1969) is an American film director and screenwriter. Career He co-wrote and directed the 2005 film '' Never Been Thawed'', the 2008 film ''Sex Drive'', the 2014 film ''Horrible Bosses 2'', the 2015 film '' Daddy's Ho ...

and starring

Adam Sandler Adam Richard Sandler (born September 9, 1966) is an American comedian, actor, screenwriter, producer and singer. He was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1990 to 1995, before going on to star in numerous Hollywood films, those of wh ...

and

Andy Samberg Andy Samberg (born David A. J. Samberg; August 18, 1978) is an American actor, comedian, musician, producer and screenwriter. He is a member of the comedy music group The Lonely Island and was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 2005 ...

. The film follows Donny Berger (Sandler), a middle-aged alcoholic who once enjoyed celebrity status for being at the center of a teacher-student

statutory rape In common law jurisdictions, statutory rape is nonforcible sexual activity in which one of the individuals is below the age of consent (the age required to legally consent to the behavior). Although it usually refers to adults engaging in sexual ...

case, as he tries to rekindle his relationship with his adult son, Todd Peterson/Han Solo Berger (Samberg), born as the result of that illicit relationship, in hopes that their televised reunion will earn him enough money to avoid going to prison for

tax evasion Tax evasion is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax authorities to reduce the tax ...

. The film was released on June 15, 2012, by

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...

. It was panned by critics, only grossed $57 million against a $57–70 million budget, becoming a

box-office bomb A box-office bomb, or box-office disaster, is a film that is unprofitable or considered highly unsuccessful during its theatrical run. Although any film for which the production, marketing, and distribution costs combined exceed the revenue after ...

, and has been considered to be one of the worst films ever made.

Plot

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

in 1984, young Donald "Donny" Berger flirts with his middle school teacher, Mary McGarricle, who is repulsed by his actions and gives him a month's detention. However, in detention, she seduces Donny and they begin a sexual relationship. Mary and Donny's relationship is discovered during an auditorium speech. Subsequently, Mary is arrested and sentenced to 30 years in prison for

, but the scandal makes Donny famous. She is also revealed to be

pregnant Pregnancy is the time during which one or more offspring develops (gestation, gestates) inside a woman, woman's uterus (womb). A multiple birth, multiple pregnancy involves more than one offspring, such as with twins. Pregnancy usually occur ...

, and custody of their unborn son is given to Donny's abusive father. When Donny turns 18, he will take full custody. In the present, Donny is an alcoholic and broke slacker who owes $43,000 to the

Internal Revenue Service The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory ta ...

(IRS) in back taxes. To avoid going to jail, he places a $20 bet on an 8000:1 runner in an upcoming race, but decides to make a backup plan should the runner lose. Meanwhile, Donny has also been estranged from his now 28-year-old son for the past 10 years. To avoid contact with his parents and others discovering the family connection, their son changed his name from Han Solo Berger to Todd Peterson and tells others that his parents died in an explosion. Now a successful businessman, Todd has recently arrived at the

Cape Cod Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of mainland Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer mont ...

house of his boss, Steve Spirou, where he is to marry his fiancée, Jamie. Randall Morgan, a

television producer A television producer is a person who oversees one or more aspects of video production on a television show, television program. Some producers take more of an executive role, in that they conceive new programs and pitch them to the television net ...

who worked with Donny during his time as a celebrity, offers him $50,000 to organize a reunion with Todd and Mary. Informed of his son's upcoming wedding in a newspaper, Donny arrives at Cape Cod. Todd, who did not expect the visit, pretends Donny is an old friend, and his father's popularity with the guests annoys him. Todd initially refuses to see his mother. However, after Donny convinces Jamie's family to have the wedding rehearsal away from churches and Todd's friends to have the bachelor party at a strip club, Todd reconciles with him and agrees to the prison meeting. But, when a television crew arrives to film in the middle of Todd and Mary's encounter, Todd leaves in disgust without signing a release form. Donny then finds out Jamie is having affairs with Steve and her brother, Chad, which she hides by giving Todd a cover story and paying Donny $50,000 to not tell anyone. However, Donny feels guilty for withholding the truth, and he disrupts the wedding to reveal his bloodline relation to Todd and Jamie's

infidelity Infidelity (synonyms include cheating, straying, adultery, being unfaithful, two-timing, or having an affair) is a violation of a couple's emotional and/or sexual exclusivity that commonly results in feelings of anger, sexual jealousy, and riva ...

and

incest Incest ( ) is human sexual activity between family members or close relatives. This typically includes sexual activity between people in consanguinity (blood relations), and sometimes those related by affinity (marriage or stepfamily), adoption ...

. Todd breaks up with Jamie, accepts Donny as his father, quits his job, and reclaims his birth name, Han Solo. Han later begins dating strip worker Brie and offers Donny the money, but he declines, insisting on taking responsibility for his actions. While preparing to go to prison to rekindle his relationship with Mary after his sentence is over, the bet he placed on the marathon wins him $160,000, satisfying the IRS.

Cast

Credits adapted from ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or t ...

''.

Production

The film was originally titled ''I Hate You, Dad'', and then changed to ''Donny's Boy'' before the producers finally settled on ''That's My Boy''. Filming began on May 2, 2011, and ended on July 15, 2011. Filming took place in

, with studio filming at

Culver City, California Culver City is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,779. Founded in 1917 as a "whites only" sundown town, it is now an ethnically diverse city with what was called the "third-most d ...

Release

Box office

''That's My Boy'' opened on June 15, 2012, grossing $13,453,714 in its opening weekend, ranking #4 behind the second weekends of '' Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted'' and ''

Prometheus In Greek mythology, Prometheus (; , , possibly meaning " forethought")Smith"Prometheus". is a Titan god of fire. Prometheus is best known for defying the gods by stealing fire from them and giving it to humanity in the form of technology, kn ...

'', and the opening of ''

Rock of Ages Rock of Ages may refer to: Films * ''Rock of Ages'' (1918 film), a British silent film by Bertram Phillips * ''Rock of Ages'' (2012 film), a film adaptation of the jukebox musical (see below) Music * ''Rock of Ages'' (musical), a 2006 rock ...

''. The film grossed $36.9 million in the US and $57.7 million worldwide, failing to recoup its $57–70 million budget, making it a financial failure.

Critical response

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 ...

, ''That's My Boy'' has an approval rating of 20% based on 115 reviews and an average rating of 3.80/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "While it does represent a new foray into raunch for the normally PG-13 Sandler, ''That's My Boy'' finds him repeating himself to diminishing effect – and dragging Andy Samberg down with him." 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 31 out of 100 based on reviews from 27 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by

CinemaScore CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data. Background Ed Mintz founded Ci ...

gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A to F scale. Film critic

Richard Roeper Richard E. Roeper (born October 17, 1959) is an American columnist and film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times''. He co-hosted the television series '' At the Movies'' with Roger Ebert from 2000 to 2008, serving as the late Gene Siskel's success ...

gave the film an F, calling it "an ugly, tasteless, deadly and mean-spirited piece of filmmaking," and would later call it the worst film of 2012.

Justin Chang Justin Choigee Chang (born January 3, 1983) is an American film critic and columnist for the ''Los Angeles Times''. He previously worked for ''Variety''. Early life Justin Chang graduated from the University of Southern California in 2004. Chan ...

of ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' called it "a shameless celebration of degenerate behavior, a work of relentless vulgarity and staggering moral idiocy." '' Half in the Bag'' called the film "pathetic" and "painful", and went on to criticize Sandler as a comic, suggesting he was unable to create humor that was not based on childish jokes. Jake McGowan, writing for ''

The Daily Targum ''The Daily Targum'' is the official student newspaper of Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. Founded in 1869, it is the second-oldest collegiate newspaper in the United States. The ''Daily Targum'' is student written and managed, and ...

'', took a different approach. He evaluated the film as a "postmodern, absurdist deconstruction of irony and its impact on critical issues," further stating that Sandler's work "was an artistic reminder that we cannot tackle our traumas or prevent future despair without confronting society's dirty underbelly head-on. We cannot move forward with quips and irony. Critics felt sick after watching the movie because Sandler wanted them to." The film was criticized for making light of statutory rape, incest, and child neglect.

Home media

''That's My Boy'' was released to

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

and

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...

on October 16, 2012 by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

Accolades

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:That's My Boy 2012 films 2012 black comedy films 2010s sex comedy films American black comedy films American sex comedy films 2010s English-language films Films about alcoholism Films about dysfunctional families Films about scandalous teacher–student relationships Films produced by John Morris Films set in 1984 Films set in 2012 Films set in Massachusetts Films shot in Massachusetts Incest in film Film controversies Film controversies in the United States Obscenity controversies in film Sexual-related controversies in film Juvenile sexuality in films Relativity Media films Happy Madison Productions films Columbia Pictures films Films directed by Sean Anders Films produced by Adam Sandler Films produced by Allen Covert Films produced by Jack Giarraputo Fictional portrayals of the Boston Police Department Films scored by Rupert Gregson-Williams Films about rape Films about father–son relationships Golden Raspberry Award winning films 2010s American films