Middle-aged family man gets saddled with his old windbag of a father after Mom writes a telling letter saying she's leaving her husband because he has destroyed their marriage. Blaming her spouse for her lifelong unhappiness doesn't seem to phase Pop, however; he doesn't recognize his own personal failings, neither with his wife nor his children. This sets the scene for many conference calls between the couple's talkative daughters, while father and son hit the road for an unintended journey of rediscovery. They do all the typical father and son things after buying a beautiful vintage car they find sitting idle in a junk heap: fishing, drinking, pool-playing, bar-fighting, country line-dancing...they take in a local baseball game and even get picked up by a comely co-ed and her vivacious mother. Paul Reiser co-produced, wrote and stars in this anemic comedy-drama, an unfunny dirge putting family therapy in the hands of those directly responsible--and once everyone is heard, the healing can begin! Braying Peter Falk is angrily defensive over his behaviors of the past and refuses to take responsibility for the family ill-will, while son Reiser incredulously repeats back everything Pop says. It's an endless argument that goes around and around until father and son collapse on a country hill at night, underneath the stars while a plaintive guitar plucks in the background, and Dad tells his son he's really an OK guy. Some audiences may actually buy this--they may also swallow the bar-fight scene wherein Falk defeats a rowdy tough who welshes on a bet (both bully and son get a hit to the groin, that old comedy stand-by). Reiser has an open face and a nervous, half-inquisitive smile that shows you he's listening but is also thinking about something else; he reminds one of Albert Brooks (or the young Sydney Pollack when he was an actor), though Reiser's exasperated takes are like leftover gimmicks from sitcom-land. Falk, shouting at the sky, is simply a mouthpiece for the other side; Reiser tells him that, just maybe, he wasn't a very fair or attentive husband, which sends Dad over the edge. These scenes of discord don't build out of anything natural--they are only present to give the movie an angry argument--while Falk displays such out-of-control mania, he's tough to shake off when the picture's mood suddenly turns 'cute'. *1/2 from ****