The Keanu Reeves Project: Parenthood

PARENTHOOD (1989) - Tod

Well, I watched this as well as my next entry a few nights ago and I meant to do this write-up sooner while this was fresher in my mind but so much for that.

It's a little frustrating that no idea anymore is original.  No matter what idea one might come up with, there's a good chance that someone has already thought of it and worse, done it better than you.  With that said, over this weekend I discovered there are not one but at least two podcasts dedicated to watching the entire Keanu Reeves filmography from start to finish, although it doesn't appear that either of them took a look at his really early made for TV work as I did, so, go me.

I also don't know if anyone has gone through this in blog form, but if they have, I'm sure they're more insightful and better written than this half-assed thing that I'm doing but since nobody is reading this anyway, I don't really care all that much.

Without going into the names of the two podcasts, I think I'm going to abandon the first one I found.  I listened to the first four of five episodes in an attempt to catch up to where I am in his filmography, but the hosts just come across as a bit annoying and definitely think they're funnier than they actually are.  At least I know I'm not funny.

I just started the second one and at least at a first impressions it seems to be a lot better and I'm going to give it a few more episodes before I decide to continue on.  The thing about this project and why I'm listening to the podcasts is that it's nice to know that there are other people out there doing what I'm doing and listening to them talk about it makes me feel like I've got some sort of quasi-friends who just sort of get the project.

The problem though, is that neither of the podcasts appear to be hosted by people who are actually fans of Keanu.  The one I'm giving up on seems to have chosen Keanu Reeves because why not, and none of the hosts seem to be particularly familiar with most of his work.  In fact, in both of the podcasts, at least one of the three hosts have already admitted to never even having seen Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, which in my mind is a bit troublesome when you are doing a podcast about Keanu Reeves.

The fact that these podcasts exist though give me some hope that this is actually a worthwhile project and is almost making me want to launch a podcast idea I had several years ago called "All Seagal" where I'd watch Steven Seagal's entire filmography because many of his movies are hilariously bad and also because Steven Seagal is a true piece of shit human being.

But, I'm off topic here.

Today's recap is of the 1989 movie, Parenthood, with an ensemble cast featuring Steve Martin, Mary Steenburgen, Diane Wiest, Jason Robards, and Rick Moranis with a heavy dose of Martha Plimpton, Keanu Reeves and a very young Joaquin Phoenix.

Haircut inspired by The Prince of Pennsylvania

Parenthood is a movie that I've caught in bits and pieces of on television for the last 25 years but never actually watched from start to finish until this viewing and aside from a minute or two here and there, I believe I've actually seen most of the movie on my previous viewings.

Parenthood is about a group of siblings dealing with....you guessed it, Parenthood.

Steve Martin is Gil, a 35 year old father of three struggling to raise his three kids, especially his eldest son who suffers from extreme anxiety.  By the way, the fact that Steve Martin is supposed to be in his mid 30's in this rather than his mid 40's was a little distracting to me even though Steve Martin has looked like he's been 45 years old since 1978.  Gil has two sisters each with their own problems.  Diane Wiest plays his sister Helen, who has a daughter in high school (Martha Plimpton as Julie) carrying on a relationship with Tod (Keanu Reeves) and a middle school aged son Garry (two R's, played by Joaquin Phoenix) who has become increasingly troubled and evasive after his parent's divorce.

There's also Gil's sister Susan, who is married to Nathan, played by Rick Moranis who is the king of helicopter parents as they attempt to raise their daughter.  Finally, Gil's brother Larry is the fuck-up of the family (played by Tom Hulce of Amadeus fame) who returns home one day with a young son, a gambling addiction, and a heavy debt to a group of gangsters.  

The movie jumps from family to family as all of the middle aged siblings attempt to raise their families while dealing with their myriad problems at home.

Given that I'd seen this in bits and pieces over the years, I didn't have a whole lot of new thoughts on this one, there are certainly some funny aspects to the movie and Keanu Reeves certainly carries his scenes as Tod, the well-intentioned slacker boyfriend to Julie.  At first glance, Tod is the exact kind of guy a parent wouldn't want their daughter dating - he's uneducated, goofy, and has a stupid haircut.  But, Tod turns out to be the male presence that Garry needs in his life as well as an understanding boyfriend and eventual husband to Julie.

Husband Material and Dunkin Donuts product placement

I don't have a whole lot of new thoughts on this one.  The movie is funny at times, sad at others and a good launching pad for Keanu Reeves as he fits his role perfectly.  I took a bit of offense at the ending of the movie where every parent (except for Larry) is shown with a new baby as most of these people appear to be on the tail end of 'new parent' age and I did worry a lot about the dysfunctional families all these new kids are about to be raised in.

Anyway, that's Parenthood, a perfectly fine movie from 1989 that you don't need to watch today if you've never seen it.

BEST PART: Pretty good performances by everyone involved.

WORST PART: General cheese scattered throughout the movie, but particularly the ending with the fake-me-out on who just had a baby.

Box Office Mojo information: $100 million domestic and the 9th highest grossing movie of 1989, not bad.  

Rotten Tomatoes: 91% Critics, 76% Audience

IMDB: 7.0

My Movie Rating: 6.5/10.  There are certainly funny moments in this and while the tone is mostly lighthearted, there are certainly moments that put this into more of a dramedy category than a pure comedy.  I found most of the cast to appear to be older than the characters they were supposed to be playing which did take me out of it a bit.  Overall, I'm not mad I watched it but I don't need to see it ever again.

Keanu Rating: 8/10.  Once again, Keanu was cast in a pretty perfect role as Tod.  He's got his good comedic moments and certainly stands out in this as a good comedic performer.

Up next: The 1990 dark comedy about a spousal hit gone wrong, I Love You To Death starring Tracey Ullman and Kevin Kline.