Old Dogs

Now I know why this movie has done poorly. It is another movie where children receive whatever they want and are spoiled beyond redemption. It will be nice to see John Travolta to return to what made him a massive star: action packed thrillers and intense dramas. But on the flipside, this movie is made for Robin Williams.

Travolta is Charlie and Williams is his sports advertising partner Dan. Both are pretty successful but their 30 year career has reached its culmination and they have made great strides with a Japanese conglomerate that wants to break into the US sports market.

The advent of this movie is rushed. Dan has just got divorced and his buddy Charlie takes him down to Miami where he seems to know like the back of his hand. Rather than offer sound advice to Dan he escorts him around the beach strip, pays for a ridicuous tattoo on his chest which is totally ridiculous. They did not even spell it to the artist, seeing this on William's chest is hilarious though. Charlie gets Dan inebriated and Dan marries this gorgeous woman, knocks her up and divorces her. Charlie is a great friend. Dan is basically a moron but these scenes are rushed past us since they are so absurd, if they were not, the audience would probably just vacate the theatre and inform their friends and family to avoid this movie like the plague.

The only think that Dan did that was right in Miami was spend some time with Vicki played by Kelly Preston. Why did he divorce her? Why did he marry her so quickly? She is a nice person and utterly gorgeous. Travolta chose a winner unlike Will Smith. Preston still shines. Dan conceives twins with Vicki but she never informs him about this. This is folds into the plot of this silly and disturbing movie.

Dan is in the train station or some public venue when Vicki spots him. They decide to have dinner together and Vicki blesses or curses, depends on what your viewpoint, him with the shocking news. Then she guilts him to take on the challenge of taken on these children in a moment's notice since she is an idiotic activist and needs to spend 2 weeks in jail for some asinine reason. Pure emotion, little reason. No company is going to poison the stream but she felt they would.

What is strange is the girl and boy do not come to Dan's home but they all move into Charlie's. Dan spends about $15,000 on child proofing the home which is obscene. Vicki is the most selfish human being around, she cares little for Dan's career even though it is at a critical juncture. Before she departs to serve her time, she informs Dan that the children should not spend any time with a baby sitter. She tells Dan that the children have never had a father. Well, that is her partly her fault, half seems about right. Both were selfish while the children suffered.

Dan and Charlie have a third partner in their advertising firm. The Brazilian Job's Seth Green stars in this movie. He has a touching moment at the end with a gorilla. He gets his best part smashed by a golf ball on a golf course. Ralph White is Seth's character's name and he totally blows it in Japan. He is a large reason the Japanese company cuts ties with them. Ralph acts totally unprofessional and displeasing in Japan when he was supposed to be the face of the enterprise.

How Dan forgets his notes and his power point display at the end to seal the deal with the Japanese firm is pure smoke and mirrors. How does this happen? I am not sure. This movie is funny but pretty unrealistic all they way through. There is few realistic scenarios in this movie's entirety. Charlie smashing pies in his face, Charlie looking like the Joker and Dan getting into the Japanese faces on the golf course because his depth perception was off kilter are all very funny. But those kids are out of control, they should have been smacked atleast twice. But this politically movie distorts reality and tosses another movie for the liberal crowd that business does not matter and lets create a fantasy world for the younger generation.

Dan did not choose Japan over his family. He chose financial security for them all. Seth is funny, there is not a movie he is in where he is not. Though he was pretty stupid in the amazing looking Jennifer Love Hewitt high school movie Can't Hardly Wait.

Dan and Charlie are famous in the behind the scenes sports world. Charlie and Dan make a good team since they are opposites. Charlie is the risk taker, untraditional one. Dan has always been more of a homebody and raising a family is certainly not out of the question for him. The movie ofcourse has a happy ending. Family and career, perfectly balanced in this fictional novelty. Tough times out there, why does Hollywood paint this astonishing picture?

I allocate this movie two stars.**