Put me down, please
By Miranda Inganni
When two men in their 50s suddenly discover one is the father of 7-year-old twins, hilarity could ensue. But not in the case of Disney's Old Dogs.
Dan (Robin Williams) and Charlie (John Travolta) have been best friends and business partners for decades. While Dan can't get over the love of his life, Vicki (Kelly Preston), a woman he met and drunkenly married for 24 hours, Charlie is his polar opposite -- still acting like a playboy and flirting with women half his age. As it turns out, Dan unknowingly fathered twins, played by Travolta and Preston's real-life daughter, Ella Bleu Travolta, and television and movie/television "veteran," Conner Rayburn. Thanks to Dan's bumbling ways, the men must take care of the kids for two weeks, all the while trying to close the biggest deal in their company's history.
Predictably the kids create much mischief while teaching the men about what really matters in life. Dan learns how to be more carefree, while Charlie discovers how to love someone other than himself. Unsurprisingly, everything works out in the end for all involved. Except for Charlie's dog. He dies after being exploited for cheap laughter by director Walt Becker.
The supporting cast includes such accomplished comedic actors as Seth Green, Rita Wilson, Lori Loughlin, Matt Dillon, Amy Sedaris, Saburo Shimono and the late Bernie Mac.
If you enjoy such movies as Wild Hogs and Van Wilder (directed by Becker), The Family Man (written by the Old Dogs' writing team of Davids Diamond and Weissman), Wedding Crashers and The Comebacks (yup, same producers on those flicks and this one: Andrew Panay, Robert L. Levy and Peter Abrams), then you'll probably find a chuckle or two in Old Dogs. This PG-rated film comes with predictable pedestrian humor -- flatulence, groin injuries, cartoonish violence. Despite the impressive cast, though, it falls short on big laughs. I would have much preferred to watch geriatric canines for two hours.
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this is just fantabulous.. !!!
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