Like Father Like Son (1987)

A mysterious potion switches the personalities of a buttoned up doctor and his laid back son.

Director:

Rod Daniel

Writers:

Lorne Cameron (story by), Lorne Cameron (screenplay by)

Stars:

Dudley Moore, Kirk Cameron, Margaret Colin

2 wins.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Dudley Moore	...	Dr. Jack Hammond / Chris Hammond
Kirk Cameron	...	Chris Hammond / Dr. Jack Hammond
Margaret Colin	...	Ginnie Armbruster
Catherine Hicks	...	Dr. Amy Larkin
Patrick O'Neal	...	Dr. Armbruster
Sean Astin	...	Trigger
Camille Cooper	...	Lori Beaumont
Micah Grant	...	Rick Anderson
Bill Morrison	...	Uncle Earl
Skeeter Vaughan	...	Medicine Man
Larry Sellers	...	Navajo Helper
Tami David	...	Navajo Girl
Maxine Stuart	...	Phyllis
David Wohl	...	Dr. Roger Hartwood
Michael Horton	...	Dr. Mike O'Donald

Storyline

Dr. Jack Hammond has best chances to become medical superintendent in the clinic. So he's completely absorbed in his work and has no understanding for his teenage son Chris' problems with school. By accident one of them drinks a brain-exchanging serum, and it switches their identities. This leads of course to extraordinary complications in school and at work, but also to insight in the problems and feelings of each other.

---

Plot Keywords:

adult as child | child as adult | serum | body switching | native american | 

---

Taglines:

Chris and his dad have accidentally changed bodies - but no big deal. Chris gets the Jag and the Gold Card. Dad gets the fake ID and the bio final.

---

Genres:

Comedy | Fantasy

---

Certificate:

PG-13

Details

Official Sites:

Sony Movie Channel [United States]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

2 October 1987 (USA)

Also Known As:

De tal padre tal hijo

Filming Locations:

Mojave Desert, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$10,500,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$7,189,452, 4 October 1987

Gross USA:

$34,377,585

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$34,377,585

Company Credits

Production Co:

Imagine Films Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Star Dudley Moore was immediately smitten with Like Father Like Son (1987). Moore said: "The idea of swapping bodies appealed to me, and it was a good excuse to be a kid again . . . although I don't need an excuse. It was just a fun story. I had been sixteen years old once, and I don't pretend to be a professional adult. I really didn't play a sixteen year old. I think that would have been mildly boring. So, instead of going for accuracy, we went for the fun of the situation. I was playing an attitude, not an age".

---

Goofs

Multiple members of the crew are reflected off the glazed pictures on the wall when the cleaning lady comes to tell Dudley Moore he is going out for groceries.

---

Quotes

Ginnie Armbruster: Well, well, well, who we have here?
Dr. Jack Hammond: We have... moi. Huh, me.
Ginnie Armbruster: You know when I first saw you a moment ago, a shiver ran down through my body. Do you think you have something to warm me up?
Dr. Jack Hammond: You mean, like, hot chocolate?
Ginnie Armbruster: I was thinking of something a little more personal and a lot more private.
Dr. Jack Hammond: Private as... as in... you and me?
Ginnie Armbruster: Can't think of anyone else I'd like to invite.
Dr. Jack Hammond: Okay.
Ginnie Armbruster: Okay?
Trigger: Ahh, this place is full of nuns.
[...]

---

Connections

Featured in Autograph: She Never Looked that Good for Me (1988)

---

Soundtracks

Dance All Night
Performed by Autograph
Courtesy of RCA Records

User Reviews

Generic body switch formula.

Like Father, Like Son is probably most appealing to 80s fans, presenting typical teen genre conflicts as well as 80s teen stars, Kirk Cameron and Sean Astin. Young kids might appreciate it simply for the story (despite it's lack of novelty) of a teenager getting all the priveleges of being an adult, while only having to change appearance and not attitude. The decade however, offering a nauseating selection of role switching comedies and parodies, may have the rest of us looking to avoid this repetition and searching for something else on the shelves.

Chris Hammond (Kirk Cameron) is a high school senior. He's an average student, a decent track team participant, and likes a girl at school who happens to be dating a psychotic jock bully. And, his dad, Jack (Dudley Moore) is breathing down his neck to get him an ivy league school to study pre-med, leaving Chris secretly wanting to tell his dad to just let him make his own decisions about what he wants to do.

Chris's buddy, Trigger (Sean Astin), has a wacky uncle who's staying with him. He lived in the desert for awhile, experimenting with body-switching potions. Trigger gets a hold of the brain transference serum and it switches Chris and Jack's brains so that Chris is Jack and Jack is Chris. There's a mistake here, in that their accents should've switched as well, since when Trigger tried it on the cat and dog, the cat barked at the dog and the dog meowed at the cat.

But, it makes for a whole lot of trouble. The incredibly boring and sometimes big-shot Dr. Hammond has to settle on being a teenager awhile. And Chris has to settle for being Dr. Hammond, both without screwing things up. For Dr. Hammond, he hopes to get the ordeal with over quickly; but for Chris, there's advantages to not having to show up for school, take tests, and the like. But, they each grow quite irritable of the situation as they tend to screw up each other's lives. Dr. Hammond has a few nasty run-ins with the bully as Chris. And Chris, involved in an affair with the boss's wife, not only sets the living room on fire, but also risks his father's chances of becoming chief of staff.

I still think it's a fun movie for kids and probably teenagers. Safe family fun for the most part anyways due to lack of sex, violence, and for the most part, language. However, Kirk Cameron did tend to get quite annoying at parts as the whiny teenager. Actually, Trigger was one of the best characters in the movie as a sort of slacker friend of Chris, except he's not in the movie all that much. I did like Chris as Dr. Hammond during the hospital scenes, when he had to take his med students on rounds, and didn't know what the heck he was doing. It has it's moments.