Awesome Movie

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Before I get into the actual merits of the film, it would be extremely remiss to not preface that with the real reason behind how and why this film came to be in the first place, a remake of a French film that was made only 3 years prior. For those of you who don't already know, Gerard Depardieu is basically a living legend in French cinema, so why not for American cinema too? Surely the whole world will love him just as much as the French do! In a mouthful, that's taking a lot for granted.Personally I never understood the mass appeal of this man in France. He's an A-list actor there, and while I don't begrudge him that, he's also become a bit of a phenomenon. In fact, you really don't have the American equivalent. To make it clearer, Americans really don't have ONE guy upon who's shoulder they can rest the entire history of American cinema. Gerard Depardieu is basically that guy in France. He's essentially to film what Elvis Presley was to music. This film was the film that was intended to launch Depardieu's acting debut in America, and make him a household name in America, so after being almost universally panned by critics, why didn't it work?Of all the screenplays they could have chosen for an American breakout feature, this one really was a curious choice. It's a film that deals with an incestuous, pedophilic subject. Europeans find this cute and funny, and the idea of older/younger relationships, as well as coming of age stories were a bit of a guilty pleasure over there for awhile, whereas those type of themes tend to creep out most Americans to the point where they would have trouble appreciating the comedy and irony in this type of film. That being said, even in Europe this type of pseudo-sex comedy was already on the way out by the mid 90s anyway. The "pseudo-sexual" aspect in and of itself is at the core of this film's lack of appeal to an American Audience. It's NOT really a sex comedy. It's PG rated with little to no sexual intrigue, so it's not going to appeal to young adults, and it's sure as hell not the type of thing most Americans would want to show to their kids.So how did the "Americanization" of this massive cultural disconnect go? Simply put, not well! For starters, French humour relies heavily on character comedy. As such, erratic mood swings and exaggerated reactions are common in French comedies. The end result is, Depardieu's acting comes across as forced; he overacts basically, and in combination with his thick accent and scripted English expressions that only a native English speaker would say, it comes across as extremely awkward and wooden. It's like trying to tell a joke in a foreign language when you barely understand the words coming out of your mouth. It's hard to distinguish when he's trying to be funny or when he's trying to be serious, and unlike actors like Michael Caine, he's bad at blending the two.One thing I find quite funny is how they tried to soften Depardieu's character in the American version to make him more likeable. For example, in the original, he beats his daughter twice, and he beats the woman he met at the resort once. All times in a matter of fact way as if not intended to illicit any type of audience reaction. Not so in the American Version. How's that for a cultural disconnect? In this version he comes across as more silly and light hearted, whereas in the original he comes across as a bit of a crank with a serious anger problem, and not likeable at all. There's definitely a "please like me!" aspect to this film which you'd probably only pick up on if you saw the original, but I definitely couldn't stop thinking about it, watching this.So how did this film compare to the original? Believe it or not, I still thought this film was slightly better than the original. Even though most of the scenes are essentially copy and pasted, this director staging the scenes more naturally and less forced. In the original, one plot premise is constantly feeding into another. He also quite sensibly cut out the violent altercation where Depardieu punches out the resort's cook, right before he undergoes his failed attempt to rescue his daughter. In the original he's whisked into an ambulance, and never gets charged for commiting assault, whereas in this film he's brought back to the guesthouse to sleep it off. Again, much more natural and less forced, this being the most extreme example of that.Ultimately though, neither are very good films. I suppose it didn't hurt that Katherine Heigl is much more attractive than the girl in the original film. Opposing that are things like the speedboat scene which in this film is more over-the-top than in the original, plus the entire premise itself comes across as forced, moreso in this film, especially when Depardieu's character spontaneously starts singing a song about little girls, completely oblivious to the fact that everyone at the resort thinks he's a pedophile. The scene that really kills it for me though in both films is the scene towards the end where the father is hiding in the bushes feeding lines to his daughter as she speaks to her male love interest in the film. So needlessly ridiculous.

Entire concept gross. A daughter pretending that her father is her boyfriend for any reason is disturbing and she needs therapy. Even after her dad learns of this she is more concerned that he keep her secret (she's okay with everyone in the entire resort thinking he is a child molester while) because she does not want to lose the guy. How self-centered is that? And then he goes along with it because he does not want to ruin her first chance at love. I would have ruined her first chance at love and any chance of leaving her room for the rest of the summer. The daughter is a little brat and I couldn't deal with this movie and finally walked out of the room. Anyone who finds this movie funny needs their head examined. I would say this ranks as being one of the worst movies I have ever seen in my life.

MY Father the hero is sweet, funny and cute. Gerard Depardiu is awesome as Andre, a divorced father who takes his fourteen year old daughter Nicole(Kathrine Heigl) to the Caribbean for vacation.While there, his daughter meets a guy named Ben(Dalton James. To impress him, she tells him that Andre is her lover and that her father is in jail for armed robbery and her mother is a prostitute and that she ran off with her pimp. Everyone on the island is soon under the impression that Andre's a child molester. Andre is between two relationships. One with Isabelle(Emma Thompson, who makes a cameo in the end of the film) and Diana(Faith Prince from Spin City). My father the Hero has many funny moments. Like when he's at a talent show and everyone tells him to play something french. So he plays "Thank Heaven for Little Girls" from Gigi. Everyone gets disgusted and leaves. My Father the Hero doesn't deserve a 5.1. I think it deserves a 9.0.

I have a problem with the movie snobs who consider Americans to be uncouth semi - literates unable to appreciate the subtlety of the more sophisticated Europeans,les Francais,les Italiens...just about anybody from le continong to whom English is a foreign language.If the humour in "My Father the Hero" is different from that in "Mon Pere ce heros" it is because the French sense of humour is different from that of the American.Not better,not "more clever",just different. If you think it is crass for Hollywood to "borrow" from the French cinema just consider how much the French cinema has borrowed from Hollywood in the first place.Where would Belmondo and Delon have been without Bogart?Truffaut without Hitchcock?Jerry Lewis - not known for his subtle and cerebral style is idolised in France.Go figure........ Monsieur Depardieu is exceptionally good as the hapless divorced father of a precocious 14 year old daughter on holiday in the Bahamas together. Unbeknowst to him,she presents him to the other people at the hotel as her lover so as to make herself more interesting to a boy she has her eye on .Not surprisingly,complications ensue. There are "hommages" to "Green Card" and "Cyrano de Bergerac" amusingly inserted and M.Depardieu goes along with it all very good - naturedly. He does a good Maurice Chevaler impression with "Thank Heaven for little girls" which is in fact funny and rather poignant as his audience,all of whom believe him to be the lover of a 14 year old girl,get up and leave two - by - two as he warbles away,blissfully unaware of what is happening.When he turns round at the end of the song to acknowledge the expected applause the expression on his face is priceless. Without him the movie would be very average indeed.With his huge shambling figure dominating the screen it is a lot of fun.No pecs,no six pack - just a real proper human - type being.Formidable!