Father and Scout (1994)

What a waste of my time!!!

Boring, long, and too preachy.

A different way of telling a story

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

In some ways, I feel cheated that I missed out on this movie for so many years. At the same time, I cannot help but thank life for letting me experience the beauty and genius contained in this film; its power has purified and prepared my soul for eternity. It centers around Saget and his son as they enjoy a summer scout trip on an island off the coast of California. Rather than using this time to bond with his son, Saget views the trip as a chance crack wise and to vent his feelings of failure as both a father and a man. The movie quickly degrades into a shameless exhibition of pathos as Saget himself embodies the role of an emasculated man-child, delivering the viewer a performance that is not likely to be surpassed in greatness in our lifetime. By the movie's end, even Saget's teenage son has become so uncomfortable with his father's inadequacies as a human that he would sooner leave the island than to be further associated with the abomination that God gave him as a father. With powerful supporting performances from legends like Tackleberry from "Police Academy", Susan from "Seinfeld", and annoying, fat man, from "Alien Fury: Countdown to Invasion" this movie serves as a tribute to every soldier who has given their live defending our country and right to make movies of such importance to humanity.

Brian Bonsall is a smart actor, but that's that. I have seen this one a few years ago. I remember it having been a more or less average movie. The story was basically good, but the actual transformation on screen was fairly simple and did not match the quality I look for in father-son stories, which belong to my favorites in general. Brian was still decent; he made me watch through the whole movie. I wonder if they could have made a better movie if they'd cast a different guy as his dad. This part was thoroughly miscast. Bob Saget did not fit in here at all, he hampered the advance of the movie's storyline and screwed up the emotional aspect that was subtly addressed.

A few years ago, I found out that Father and Scout was on TV one week through my local TV-station listings. For some crazy reason, I used to like this movie. I later rented it from one of my local video stores. I always thought I was one of the dorkiest people in the world because I thought this film was good. My mom even bought me this movie for Christmas 3 years ago. Today, in a grown-up young woman's point of view, I believe this movie is horrible. The scenes were not at all funny, the acting was terrible, and it didn't have a good plot. This movie also had people getting hurt and I even saw one of the actors in it throw a screaming fit because he was getting wet. I also saw 2 people fight in the movie. It looked like some of the boys fighting at school. This movie costed $10 at my video store and I wish I could have my money back. I think I'll throw it in the trash or burn it because it may be too late to return it now.

How you'd come across this tomato can I don't know. I was coerced into taping it because "the kids would like it." Guess what? They didn't. Unless you really like Bob Saget there will be essentially nothing in this turkey for you.