Jack and Caroline are a couple struggling to make ends meet. When Jack loses his job they agree that he should stay at home and look after the house while Caroline works. It's just that he's never done it before and really doesn't have a clue; as she is climbing the ladder of success at work he puts great effort into becoming hopelessly inept at home!
Written by the king of the 1980's: John Hughes, and directed by Stan Dragoti, 'Mr Mom' is a witty, poignant, and above all, brilliantly acted film about conjugal roles and trying to strike that elusive balance between work, family and personal relationships. Michael Keaton plays Jack Butler, an average man's man turned hapless househusband after losing his job as an engineer. Jack's wife Caroline (played with aplomb by Terri Garr) becomes the breadwinner by taking on a high-powered role as an advertising executive much to Jack"s initial dismay. And to make matters worse, he also has to contend with Caroline's leering boss, who's hitting on her at any given opportunity. There aren't many movies that hold up so well, films which are as funny now as they were back then; 'Mr Mom' is one of those exceptions. I first remember seeing this as a kid during my summer holidays, and I've been a Michael Keaton fan ever since: I liked him in 'Gung Ho', laughed out loud at 'Nightshift' couldn"t quite appreciate 'Clean and Sober' back then (though its one of my favourites now), loved 'Beetlejuice' and braved the queues / hype for 'Batman'. If you've ever been unemployed, or simply stuck at home for some reason, you'll probably empathise with Jack's spiralling descent into the murky abyss of daytime television and soap operas. This man, a mere shadow of his former self, becomes a bloated, pyjama clad loser watching 'The Young & The Restless' mumbling at the TV whilst talking about characters as if they were real people. Jack, after some words of wisdom from his pals (cameos by Christopher Lloyd and Jeffery Tambor) is forced to admit his life is a shambles; its a funny, but sad and a depressingly accurate depiction of what can happen to a person in times of corporate / societal failure and economic uncertainty. 'Mr Mom' works for a variety of reasons, the most of important of which is the casting of Michael Keaton; Keaton saves would could've easily been an overacted, schmaltzy affair; cheesier than an Edam festival and twice as fragrant. For Michael has a unique ability to take on the seemingly unimpressive, and transform it into something bordering on genius. His talent for sardonic humour, erratic mumbling and psychical comedy infused with the furrowed brow of a serious actor, makes trite and unpromising comedic situations (e.g. malfunctioning Hoovers and overflowing washing machines) seem fresh and genuinely amusing. Being a housewife and mother is probably the hardest job in the world after nursing, and certainly the most unappreciated. John Hughes's script is a typically male tribute to that role, insomuch as it depicts how a guy would handle it (i.e. not very well) Jack subtly finds himself living out the worst clichés of what some men think their stay-at-home wives probably do all day (e.g. watch soaps, play cards for food vouchers and gossip with their friends). But eventually discovers there's a lot more to it than that, mirrored by Teri Garr's job as an advertising executive, cinematic shorthand for that old, but true, cliché about parenting being an experience, not a commercial. Jack's character goes through three stages in this movie: At first he's the downtrodden working man bounced out of a job who becomes a depressed acrophobe losing his grip on reality. Secondly; he's the caricature homemaker getting to enjoy his new role but not quite managing to grasp its finer points, and lastly; he's a man for all seasons, a man amongst men: A woman: Mr Mom. Fans will delight in witnessing the origins of what would become staple John Hughes scenes; the surreal, personified imagination sequence, this one sees Jack dream that his wife catches him cheating with their uninhibited neighbour; Joanne. She guns him down soap opera style, Jack collapses in a melodramatic heap and in his death throes, realises he's missed his chalk body outline by a few inches, he snaps back to life, and shuffles over into it before his nemesis; Caroline's boss, leans over and proclaims: "tough luck John", Keaton replies in his hilariously half defiant / half pathetic way: "Jack...it's Jack". In fact, for all the set ups and outrageous situations, 'Mr Mom' works best when its simply Keaton and his family trying to get though the day; the hazards of home decoration and DIY: "Kenny, don't paint your sister", relatively simple tasks like grocery shopping or dropping the kids off at school going spectacularly wrong, topped off with Jack's epic quest to try and help youngest son Kenny abandon his woobie security blanket: "I understand that you little guys start out with your woobies and you think they're great...and they are, they are terrific. But pretty soon, a woobie isn't enough. You're out on the street trying to score an electric blanket, or maybe a quilt. And the next thing you know, you're strung out on bedspreads Ken. That's serious". A laugh a minute, and a must see for Keaton fans.
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Please note this is a region 2 DVD and will require a region 2 (Europe) or region Free DVD Player in order to play Domestic comedy starring Michel Keaton as Jack Butler a traditional family man who is unfairly dismissed by the car engineering firm where he works To make ends meet his wife Caroline (Teri Garr) takes a job in an advertising firm and Jack finds himself at home with the kids Switching roles from breadwinner to house-husband comes as quite a shock as Jack struggles with the multi-tasking low self esteem and emotional stress associated with full-time parenthood
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