Old Dogs (I) (2009)

Two friends and business partners find their lives turned upside down when strange circumstances lead to them being placed in the care of 7-year-old twins.

Director:

Walt Becker

Writers:

David Diamond, David Weissman

Stars:

John Travolta, Robin Williams, Kelly Preston

5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
John Travolta	...	Charlie
Robin Williams	...	Dan
Kelly Preston	...	Vicki
Conner Rayburn	...	Zach
Ella Bleu Travolta	...	Emily
Lori Loughlin	...	Amanda
Seth Green	...	Craig
Bernie Mac	...	Jimmy Lunchbox
Matt Dillon	...	Barry
Ann-Margret	...	Martha
Rita Wilson	...	Jenna
Amy Sedaris	...	Condo Woman
Residente	...	Tattoo Artist
Sab Shimono	...	Yoshiro Nishamura (as Saburo Shimono)
Kevin Yamada	...	Riku (as Kevin W. Yamada)

Storyline

Charlie and Dan have been best friends and business partners for thirty years; their Manhattan public relations firm is on the verge of a huge business deal with a Japanese company. With two weeks to sew up the contract, Dan gets a surprise: a woman he married on a drunken impulse nearly nine years before (annulled the next day) shows up to tell him he's the father of her twins, now seven, and she'll be in jail for 14 days for a political protest. Dan volunteers to keep the tykes, although he's up tight and clueless. With Charlie's help is there any way they can be dad and uncle, meet the kids' expectations, and still land the account?

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Plot Keywords:

twin | best friend | political protest | jail | public relations | 

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Taglines:

Life is Not Child-Proof

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Genres:

Comedy | Family

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for some mild rude humor

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English Ukrainian

Release Date:

25 November 2009 (USA)

Also Known As:

Papás a la fuerza

Filming Locations:

Arena at Harbor Yard - 600 Main Street, Bridgeport, Connecticut, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$35,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£130,384 (UK) (19 March 2010)

Gross:

$49,474,048 (USA) (26 March 2010)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Walt Disney Pictures, Tapestry Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Was originally supposed to be released theatrically in non-Quebec French-language markets as "Papy-Sitter" a wordplay with the French word "papy" meaning "grandpa". When Walt Disney Pictures decide to release the film straight-to-home-video in these markets due to the film's US financial failure, they instead went with the Quebec title "Les 2 Font La Père" which is a also a wordplay based on the French expression "les 2 font la paire", somewhat equivalent to "two of a kind" and the word "père" which means "father".

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Goofs

At the campsite, while Scoutmaster Barry is speaking, Charlie and Dan are working. Charlie is on his laptop and Dan is working on his Blackberry. In one clip, he has an open portfolio (red file on left side, black file on the right side) on his lap and is looking at it while working on his Blackberry. The shot goes back to the scoutmaster, then back to Dan and the portfolio is gone. Once again it goes to Matt then back to Charlie and the portfolio is back. (at around 1 min)

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Quotes

Charlie: You crying, man?
Jimmy Lunchbox: [holding back tears] I ain't cryin'!

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Connections

Referenced in Saturday Night Live: Ashton Kutcher/Them Crooked Vultures (2010)

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Soundtracks

"Jing Jing"
Written by Sigeaki Kawachi and Shoukichi Kina
Performed by Shoukichi Kina and Champloose

User Reviews

Save your money

You worked hard for your paycheck; which is a lot more than can be said for anybody involved with this movie. Like an old dog that needs a bath, this thing stinks something awful.

Robin Williams and John Travolta have done better. Unfortunately, in this outing, neither delivers. It's not enough to prance into camera view, and call that acting. To label their performances as "phoned in" is being too generous. All they do is mug and mechanically recite lines. "Warm and fuzzy" scenes look contrived and phony, "comical" scenes are about as funny as having your teeth pulled out with a wrench and no anesthesia. And no, even anesthesia won't help you endure this movie.

The "touchy-feely" premise is this: two obnoxious swinging single mid-life-crisis guys, are old friends and business partners. Through some dumb circumstances (one has kids he didn't know about-so original yecch), they wind up with two kids to care for. Idiotic? Yes. Original, no. Interesting; definitely not. Writing is flat, the rest of the cast is flat, the plot is flat, and the director should be banned from making movies ever again. The story goes nowhere, and is never involving. The characters are not likable, and the intended laughs are as sparse as igloos in the Sahara desert. It even stoops to the old groin injury bit: sad.

At least the title makes sense. It's all old stuff. And it's a dog.