Old Dogs (2009)

Two friends and business partners find their lives turned upside down when strange circumstances lead them to be the temporary guardians of seven year-old twins.

Director:

Walt Becker

Writers:

David Diamond, David Weissman

Stars:

Robin Williams, John Travolta, Seth Green

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 and 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 uptight 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:

cake | pet funeral | pill | child raising | mix up | 

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Taglines:

Sit. Stay. Play Dad.

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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:

Miami, Florida, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$35,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$16,894,511, 29 November 2009, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$49,492,060

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$96,753,696

Company Credits

Production Co:

Walt Disney Pictures, Tapestry Films

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital SDDS DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

One of the retouched pictures of Travolta and Williams, is actually from the shooting of Carrie (1976). Nancy Allen was replaced by Williams inside the car.

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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

Dan: Whoa. Does this drink come with a diving board? It's insane!

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Connections

Referenced in Saturday Night Live: Taylor Lautner/Bon Jovi (2009)

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Soundtracks

Jing Jing
Written by Sigeaki Kawachi and Shôkichi Kina
Performed by Shôkichi Kina and Champloose

User Reviews

Satisfactory kids movie

A lot of people have bagged this movie since it came out, whether it is because of the predictability of the storyline or voicing disapproval of the jokes. What these people don't seem to realize is that this is a kids film. A movie not meant to thrill the older members of the family, but to be at least something bearable for them to do with there kids, and in this respect this movie succeeds. I have heard people mention that this film shows how dumb movies think kids are, and that kids deserve to have a movie with thought, but not all adult movies require thought, and most people are OK with that (the sensible ones) and since there is kids movies with thought coming out quite often at the moment (Coraline, Fantastic Mr. Fox) it seems quite reasonable that they can balance this out with brainless fun like this film. For negatives, while Robin Williams and John Travolta do there parts to the best of their ability the supporting cast is lackluster, while there are funny cameos by numerous comedy faces the supporting characters that actually matter (mum and friend) are not very good and don't add anything to the fun of the movie. This being said, Robin Williams and John Travolta hold it together all the way through with just a couple not very funny scenes. Overall, if you want to take your kid to a movie you could do a lot worse then "Old Dogs". 5/10.