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Fresh off of Willow, which I have yet to see but am somewhat curious about, Ron Howard's next movie to direct is Parenthood, and this was the last movie from a time before some of Howard's later films started to come off as, well... somewhat rather pretentious (excluding Apollo 13, which I also didn't see yet).
The movie focuses on a family known as the Buckmans, mainly Gil and Karen, who, out of all of the characters, seem to be the closest to living an okay life, even though they're worried about how their oldest son is turning out, and they may have another baby. Steve Martin and Mary Steenburgen do pretty well, and I loved the Cowboy Gil scene, where Martin succeeds at entertaining us.
There's also the Huffners, and they're a close second on the high end of the "how good someone's life is" meter. There's Gil's once-rebellious sister Susan (played by Harley Kozak), her obsessive-compulsive husband Nathan (played by my favorite actor Rick Moranis), and their 3-year-old daughter Patty (Ivyann Schwan, at age 6?!?). Nathan educates little Patty to comedic extremes. I mean, come on, it's one thing to teach a 3-year-old karate, but I draw the line at Franz Kafka books (seriously?). And Susan is so desperate for another baby that she lapses back into her free-spirited ways and resorts to childish behavior if she doesn't get Nathan to do what she wants. To be honest, it kinda actually hurts me to the point of giving me a rather nauseating feeling in my stomach because despite being a free-spirit myself and how harsh Nathan was in the broken diaphragm scene, I just can't say that either of these two parents are really in the wrong whatsoever outside of their foibles.
What hurts me even more (and not like with Susan and Nathan) is what happens to Gil's other sister Helen (Dianne Wiest), who is divorced and seems like she's ready to crack. Her anarchist teenage daughter Julie (Martha Plimpton, a.k.a. Stef from The Goonies) and her boyfriend Tod (Keanu Reeves) are stupid enough to take a picture of themselves going to third base and elope after that poor woman's latest breakdown due to that incident, while her son Gary (Joaquin Phoenix) is secretly watching porno tapes. Despite the facts that I kinda like Keanu and Joaquin, and that I feel sorry for Helen, these subplots shouldn't really exist...
There's also youngest Buckman brother Larry (Tom Hulce), the black sheep of the family, who turns out to be the father of a black kid named... Cool (*sarcasm* ha ha, very funny, Mr. Howard *sarcasm*). And last but not least, there's Grandma (Helen Shaw), hands-down the best character in the movie. She is fun, hilarious, and actually dispenses a nugget of wisdom in the 3rd act.
I'm not very keen on character studies, which is one of the reasons why I didn't care for The Breakfast Club, but Parenthood? Well, it's a mixed bag for the most part. But one thing's for sure: the ending is worth all of the ups and downs you sit through.
My rating: 6/10
