Parental Guidance (2012)

Artie and Diane agree to look after their three grandkids when their type-A helicopter parents need to leave town for work. Problems arise when the kids' 21st-century behavior collides with Artie and Diane's old-school methods.

Director:

Andy Fickman

Writers:

Lisa Addario, Joe Syracuse

Stars:

Billy Crystal, Bette Midler, Marisa Tomei

1 win & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Billy Crystal	...	Artie Decker
Bette Midler	...	Diane Decker
Marisa Tomei	...	Alice Simmons
Tom Everett Scott	...	Phil Simmons
Bailee Madison	...	Harper Simmons
Joshua Rush	...	Turner Simmons
Kyle Breitkopf	...	Barker Simmons (as Kyle Harrison Breitkopf)
Jennifer Crystal Foley	...	Cassandra
Rhoda Griffis	...	Dr. Schveer
Gedde Watanabe	...	Mr. Cheng
Tony Hawk	...	Tony Hawk
Steve Levy	...	Steve Levy
Cade Jones	...	Ivan Halloran
Mavrick Moreno	...	Cody
Madison Lintz	...	Ashley

Storyline

The parents of Alice, a controlled mom, agree to take care of her 3 crazy children, Harper, Turner and Barker, because they feel they don't see their grandchildren enough, when Alice and her husband Phil go on a business trip for Phil. But when everything goes downhill, they need to find a way to prove to Alice, Phil, and themselves that they can be great grandparents.

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Plot Keywords:

misbehavior | helicopter parents | woman | chores | punishment | 

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Taglines:

This Christmas it's a battle for the ages

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Genres:

Comedy | Family

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for some rude humor

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 December 2012 (USA)

Also Known As:

Us & Them

Filming Locations:

Fresno, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$25,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$14,800,000, 30 December 2012, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$77,267,296

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$119,772,232

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox,Walden Media,Chernin Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min

Sound Mix:

Datasat Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color (ACES)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Babaloo Mandel and Lowell Ganz polished the final script.

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Goofs

In the beginning of the film, Artie mentions that he "feels 10 years younger" than he is, and "looks 10 years younger than that." Diane responds by mentioning that if he's 38 years old, he should paint the house. This means that Artie is 58 years old. Later, Alice says that she had Harper when she was 26, and because Harper is 12, Alice is 38 at the time of the movie. This means that Artie had Alice when he was 20, not 23 as he says.

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Quotes

Barker Simmons: Carl and I wanna leave.
Artie Decker: Don't leave your seat.
Barker Simmons: You said "don't".
Artie Decker: Consider the consequences, mister.

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Crazy Credits

During the credits, we see pictures of each person listed with their children.

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Connections

References Skyfall (2012)

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Soundtracks

Home
Written by Greg Holden and Drew Pearson
Performed by Phillip Phillips
Courtesy of Interscope Records
Under license from Universal Music Enterprises

User Reviews

Yawn

My expectations weren't that high and Parental Guidance failed to meet them.

Bette Midler got the very few good lines, but other than that I was in turns bored or irritated. Bored because Billy Crystal never shuts up when he's on-screen. Irritated because I fail to see how bratty kids are funny. It's just an old, tired cliché from every sitcom from the last forty years.

Especially annoying was Marisa Tomei's helicopter-mother character. It was a cartoon character with no redeeming qualities.

I found myself wishing I sneak into whatever was playing next door.