i must have seen a different film!!

From my favorite movies..

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Life is not easy for three divorced fathers who meet every weekend at a fast food diner to collect their kids from their exes in this mix of comedy and drama starring Matthew Modine, Randy Quaid and Paul Reiser. Each provides a heartfelt performance and Rob Reiner is also solid as a 'radio shrink' whose intermittent broadcasts seem to taunt the trio as he laments the state of marriage today and constantly sides with the wives when discussing divorce. For all the angst that the film builds up - suggesting that fathers always lose out in the divorce process - the comedy treatment dulls any axe that the film has to grind. Janeane Garofalo has the funniest scene of the film as an awful first date whose rampant feminism amusingly gets in the way of all conversation (and dining), however, her scenes are far removed from the divorce woes at the heart of the film. The film indeed works best when it is not trying to be funny with a memorable scene early on in which one father gets very annoyed at his ex-wife spending her alimony payments on her car rather than the kids. Another great scene has one of the men staring out of the window at his ex-wife's lazy new lover, sunbathing with sunglasses on, moping around and doing nothing. The sense of indignation in this segment is quite heartfelt ("how could she prefer him to me?") without the need for a single word to be uttered. As mentioned though, the movie is mostly comedy and never an especially engaging one at that. The film's heart is certainly in the right place, but a slight change of tone could have done wonders here.

Y'know when I first saw this I thought it was very TV movie-ish and pretty stupid. It has grown on me since then, now I may tune in and stay awhile when it comes across the screen. Film focuses on three very different male friends, each coping with divorce and juggling kids and romance as best they can. There's a ton of then- and future-notables out there -- among others, we get treated to an absolutely stunning Brenneman and future looker Dushku as Reiser's troubled teen. Ed Flanders in his last film is superb as a oldtimer who just enjoys hanging a little with the kids. The closing credit wrap-up has been overdone but it plays very well in the finale of this one. Can't explain the lousy IMDb ratings, this movie deserves better.

Best line of the movie is when Susan (Amy Brenneman) says to Dave (after he comments that his new girlfriend is good with the kids,) "if it meant that you might get laid, you'd let Hannibal Lector be their nanny..." The whole movie has great lines like this one! Hilarious! I love this movie. Saw it when it came out as a college student and ten years later it still cracks me up. I think that although there is a lot of hard truth in this movie regarding divorce in America, it is a work of comedy genius. Also neat to see how some of these actors/actresses have evolved over time. It also has a great soundtrack. Love Ben Taylor's version of "I will," better than The Beatles!

A look at modern day divorced American single fathers and their attachment to McDonalds! It has some sincere and funny moments that make it worth the while but as always, when Hollywood gets to close to the truth, it turns to a TV soap style of resolution.