Let me start by saying that I am a Steve Martin fan and anyone who questions his ability to do serious work has never seen Grand Canyon. I picked up this movie with the intent of watching it with my kids, aged 12 and 6. About 15 minutes or so into the movie, after witnessing shot-drinking, a heroin needle and two people sharing a joint, I seriously considered turning the movie off. The fact is that once past these moments, the movie does begin to work as a more heart-warming family tale. What irks me however is that I don't understand why people making a movie that kids can watch have to resort to adult imagery in some feeble attempt to generate adult interest. If one wishes to make a grown-up movie with adult images, then by all means do so, but this movie simply does not work on that level; it maintains too much of a superficial and sweet flavor to be considered as such. So, why then, if I am watching a family movie, should I be forced to lie to my children about some of the imagery they are seeing? I certainly don't want to explain to them what heroin or marijuana is and the truth is that none of these images were necessary to the telling of the story.
Therein lies my biggest problem with this movie as a whole. There are simply too many small scenes and images that are forcibly interjected into the story without necessity. The baseball scene, the scene by the edge of the quarry as well as many other smaller moments almost seem randomly inserted into the movie as though after the final cut the producers felt they need 20 minutes more to fill.
My kids, fortunately, asked no questions, but did ask to watch the movie again the next day (a practice they inherited from their father), so I would honestly say that the movie does function on their level and I would recommend it to any parent who doesn't feel uncomfortable by the occasional adult imagery passing before their child's eyes.
Therein lies my biggest problem with this movie as a whole. There are simply too many small scenes and images that are forcibly interjected into the story without necessity. The baseball scene, the scene by the edge of the quarry as well as many other smaller moments almost seem randomly inserted into the movie as though after the final cut the producers felt they need 20 minutes more to fill.
My kids, fortunately, asked no questions, but did ask to watch the movie again the next day (a practice they inherited from their father), so I would honestly say that the movie does function on their level and I would recommend it to any parent who doesn't feel uncomfortable by the occasional adult imagery passing before their child's eyes.