Okay, yes, this movie is forgettable. I just thought that was a hilarious one line review of the movie, on Wikipedia. But this isn't all that bad. In fact I had a horrid thought after finishing this and starting the next one, Concrete Cowboys. My thought was: "Is the 70s boxset growing on me?" Cause I liked both of these movies!
Did movies used to have more punctuation in the title? I can't think of any movies that have been coming out recently with as much punctuation as some of these movies. Christie Love had an exclamation mark. Help Me had the ellipses. Belles sort of counts as well. This one doubled up with the comma and the exclamation point. Wow. I'm really reaching for things to say here.
Congratulations is the classic story of the rich playboy single man who finds out he has a son he's never known about. Bill Bixby stars as the charismatic Johnny Gaines, the late 30's single child of a successful business owner. He's in line to inherit the company, and as for right now he's doing just what he wants- dating aplenty, breaking the hearts of women everywhere, and staying a free bachelor. His parents are trying to hook him up with his receptionist, but he's having none of that. That's when kid BJ shows up, claiming he's Johnny's son.
What follows is an interesting enough movie. In my opinion there was not quite enough proof about the father-ship of BJ, and it's a bit unclear what BJ wants and why he's there. BJ is 16, owns a gas station, and appears to leave all that to live with his father? His father doesn't know about BJ's station, and I think rightfully assumes the kid is looking for a handout. Well, maybe if you told the father the whole story?
The best part of the movie is when Johnny's parents are beginning to wonder what could be wrong with their son. The father of one of Johnny's dates remarks "maybe he doesn't like girls." They brush this off, but then later when Johnny is coming towards his parents to introduce BJ, they mistakenly think BJ is Johnny's gay lover. The comments the father says are fucking hilarious, and I mean that I actually laughed!
There were a few laughs, and what's more I actually cared about the characters. They're thin, yes. But we're seeing perhaps 2-3 days in the initial meet and greet, and even in that time we see a dynamic, natural, and realistic change in both the characters. Again, minor complaint, the son figure is a bit too straight line, the father a bit too outrageous, but then later they seemingly drop their old selves to adapt without any complication whatsoever. Eh. Minor. What can I say? It felt pretty genuine and friendly, and at only 75 minutes, concise. I'll give it...3.5
No comments:
Post a Comment