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The Rewatchables ·

Mr. Mom

year 1983decade 80sdirector Stan Dragotigenre Drama
host Bill Simmonshost Amanda Dobbins
All 15 categories

Most Rewatchable Scene · 16:18

Jack's house attacking the family: Keaton versus the washing machine, dryer and self-starting vacuum

One host's candidates begin with Jack getting fired, where everybody is trying to strangle each other and Jeffrey Tambor and Christopher Lloyd share the scene, which feels very 80s and would not be written that way today; the clip is played.

Martin Mull, as Terry Garr's creepy boss, makes his first visit to the house and Keaton comes to the door holding a chainsaw, overalls and a backwards Lions trucker hat, the two men sizing each other up over the 220, 221 wiring line; the clip is played, and the other host decides this is where Michael Keaton and Mr. Mom invented the hipster dad seen in Brooklyn and Silver Lake.

The film

Mr. Mom (1983)

Directed by Stan Dragoti · Drama

91 minutes

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Cast

Selected cast credits · Film reference

Cast credits have not been imported yet.

Everything from the episode

In the order the hosts got to it. Open a row for the discussion.

15:15

Roger Ebert's review
In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 00:15:15Read transcript
  • Ebert gave two of four stars and called the film a lost opportunity for resorting to cliches rather than finding humor in a promising and talented cast; a host thinks it deserves at least two and a half, since against the raunchy Porky's and Caddyshack comedies of the era, where nudity was required, this was a traditional comedy you could take your kids to.
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16:18

Most Rewatchable Scene

Jack's house attacking the family: Keaton versus the washing machine, dryer and self-starting vacuum

Jack's house attacking the family: Keaton versus the washing machine, dryer and self-starting vacuum

In the discussion (8)
Approx. transcript time · 00:16:18Read transcript
  • One host's candidates begin with Jack getting fired, where everybody is trying to strangle each other and Jeffrey Tambor and Christopher Lloyd share the scene, which feels very 80s and would not be written that way today; the clip is played.
  • Martin Mull, as Terry Garr's creepy boss, makes his first visit to the house and Keaton comes to the door holding a chainsaw, overalls and a backwards Lions trucker hat, the two men sizing each other up over the 220, 221 wiring line; the clip is played, and the other host decides this is where Michael Keaton and Mr. Mom invented the hipster dad seen in Brooklyn and Silver Lake.
  • A Grantland interview a friend named Daniel did with Keaton, about 12,000 words long, had him recalling the 220, 221 line as an ad lib he was really proud of, and he is fond of the movie generally.
  • The house attacking the family, with the washer and dryer going nuts, the self-starting vacuum chasing the kids and a baby being fed chili, is next; the host who had his kids alone that weekend says being thrown into the fire really is like that, down to a son microwaving three-day-old sushi.
  • The improbable, elaborately built obstacle-course race at a work function, with hundreds of people cheering, is a specific 80s thing that would not happen now, built from borrowed playground equipment for grown men; the concept of letting your boss win because it is better for you professionally is enjoyed, and Keaton throws the race at the end.
  • The Halloween scene, where Carolyn has two hours' notice to fly to Los Angeles after convincing a man to spend $11 million on her idea, is the only time the film confronts Jack losing the family; one host notes she simply stops being a mom for an hour, while the other finds her lack of guilt refreshing against the constant anxiety of content aimed at thirty-something women, and Keaton dressed as a prisoner is good in it.
  • The goofy, abrupt ending, with Angelina (as transcribed) in Jack's room with a drink as he comes out of the shower and Terry Garr arriving, plays like they ran out of film; the other host's pick is the utilities, Keaton versus the washing machine and the vacuum, which leads to the realization that ironing a grilled cheese on the ironing board came from this movie, with Craig asked whether he has done it.
  • One host has ironed a grilled cheese and calls it the best way to make one, except that the butter and cheese ruin the iron, so a dedicated grilled cheese iron would be needed, which is argued to be cheaper than a panini grill.
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26:08

What’s Aged the Best?

The overmatched dad handling multiple kids; the film not treating a man at home as a novelty; Jack's real friendships...

The overmatched dad handling multiple kids; the film not treating a man at home as a novelty; Jack's real friendships with the other moms; Ann Jillian (transcribed as Angelian); Keaton watching soap operas; the Rocky, Jaws and Chariots of Fire references; the tuna-with-a-heart commercial; the abrupt ending; 1980s parenting; Martin Mull, Jeffrey Tambor and Christopher Lloyd

In the discussion (8)
Approx. transcript time · 00:26:08Read transcript
  • The overmatched dad handling multiple kids at home is always an enjoyable gimmick, and the film does not treat a man at home as a huge novelty, only as a moron at home; the mean, judgy moms still exist in 2019 on mommy boards, and the hosts credit the film for not dwelling on whether a man could stay home.
  • Jack makes real friends with the other moms, playing poker and being taken to a male strip joint; Angelian (as transcribed) was really good, remembered as the breakout star of the sitcom It's a Living about waitresses at a club, with a dance background, playing the horny divorced friend who is in on the joke, though one host cannot defend the character even while liking her.
  • Keaton watching soap operas is both aged best and aged worst: one host watched General Hospital in that era, when daytime TV with only ten channels meant game shows and soap operas and a sick day meant making sure to catch The Price is Right, and Jack goes from mocking the show to yelling at it within five minutes; Rocky training montages are always liked.
  • The pop culture references, Rocky, Jaws and a fake Chariots of Fire during the race, have aged well where timely references usually die and date a film instantly, as Wayne's World 2 does.
  • The tuna-with-a-heart commercial is very 80s but smart, since the idea that brands need a heart is exactly what every brand on Twitter does now.
  • The abrupt ending is a point in its favor: the 80s habit of saying everything and getting out is missed, since comedies now tack on four more scenes, and Night Shift ends abruptly the same way.
  • The parenting seems pretty good: no helicopter freaking out, kids who make their own lunch, the speech about giving up the blanket, no crying or punching, and the film accepts on face value that staying home with the kids is hard full-time work, which is relatively progressive for 1983; Martin Mull, Jeffrey Tambor and Christopher Lloyd are a pretty good troika.
  • To close, one host goes with Keaton watching soap operas, the other with 1980s parenting, which seemed normal and soothing rather than what was expected, prompting a joke about missing peanut allergies, ADD medication and therapists.
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32:22

What’s Aged the Worst?

The hotel-room scene where Carolyn's boss makes his move and she punches him out

The hotel-room scene where Carolyn's boss makes his move and she punches him out

In the discussion (9)
Approx. transcript time · 00:32:22Read transcript
  • The trumpet-heavy theme song is very 81 to 83, as if a friend named Bob was asked to whip something up; the private plane with fur walls and tables confuses both hosts, who wonder whether it was private or an old first-class cabin.
  • The beard as a sloppy, life-falling-apart look has become the actual look for lots of people, so it aged both worst and best, and the hosts now kind of like the beard and suggest adding a baseball hat.
  • The early-80s punk babysitter with crazy makeup and purple hair; the kids' room posters of Rocky III and Eric Hipple, a really mediocre Lions quarterback from 82 and 83, arguably the worst-aged thing in any Rewatchables, explained as a Detroit local touch and compared to a Ty Detmer Eagles poster.
  • The ending is also aged worst, since the movie simply tells you to leave; the idea that a dad would know how to do nothing, not even plug in a vacuum, is different now that men know how to do laundry, which is read as an 80s exaggerate-everything trope.
  • The Me Too scene, seen in 2019 through the Harvey Weinstein stories of hotel rooms and ordered food: Carolyn reads the room, tells her boss to leave, punches him in the face when he will not, and then simply goes to tell her husband, which is very 80s and has not aged well, though women entering positions of power in the 80s made it common and every scene the two share telegraphs it.
  • The harassment plot and Joan's interest in the dad are not really needed; in 2019 the climax would be the couple fighting over parenting duties rather than fending off suitors, and 76-to-83 TV movie plots where everyone is trying to sleep with everyone are blamed; most people met at work in 1983, so the boss sizing her up reads as realistic.
  • The scene could not be done now, which is why it lands here; that the character knows exactly what to do is both depressing and impressive, navigating it like a quarterback reading a blitz and checking down, and 9 to 5, one of the biggest hits of 1980, with its boss pursuing Dolly Parton, is recalled as the precedent.
  • Earlier, stepping on the category during the scene discussion: the beard is supposed to signal Jack's life falling apart but most dads look like that now, and one host admits that a 35-year-old man with a patchy beard and an unwashed flannel shirt is what society has conditioned that host to find attractive.
  • Also earlier: Carolyn just stops being a mom for about an hour, completely uninterested in her kids, and the film does not examine it.
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39:36

Casting What-Ifs

Chevy Chase, Michael Douglas, Steve Martin and John Travolta were considered for Jack; Karen Allen, Jane Curtin, Farr...

Chevy Chase, Michael Douglas, Steve Martin and John Travolta were considered for Jack; Karen Allen, Jane Curtin, Farrah Fawcett and Sally Field for Carolyn; Ron Howard turned down directing to make Splash

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 00:39:36Read transcript
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40:06

The Joey Pants “That Guy” Award

Miriam Flynn

Miriam Flynn

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 00:40:06Read transcript
  • Miriam Flynn, Eddie's wife in Vacation, the lady you recognize without knowing her name.
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40:35

The Ruffalo / Hanna / Rubinek / Partridge Overacting Award

Martin Mull

Martin Mull

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 00:40:35Read transcript
  • Every Martin Mull scene: dialed up the whole time as the horny, unredeeming boss, committed to a performance that leads to him getting punched.
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40:49

The Dion Waiters Award for Best Heat Check Performance

The eldest kid, who delivers the one-liners about his dad

The eldest kid, who delivers the one-liners about his dad

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 00:40:49Read transcript
  • Angelian (as transcribed) is floated, but the other host wanted to give it to the kids, first the one with the blanket, then the elder kid who exists to deliver one-liners about how the dad knows nothing, and the award is handed to him.
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41:05

Recasting Couch

Michelle Pfeiffer as Carolyn, with Richard Gere replacing Martin Mull's boss to match; Meryl Streep as Carolyn

Michelle Pfeiffer as Carolyn, with Richard Gere replacing Martin Mull's boss to match; Meryl Streep as Carolyn

In the discussion (9)
Approx. transcript time · 00:41:05Read transcript
  • Terry Garr is called not good, not really a good actress, in a part that is interesting in the right hands and which she is not interested in exploring; the defense offered is that the script gives her little material.
  • She could have played it sexier or more mom-ish, but the character is hard to describe: not really a mom, throwing the kids away for an hour, showing up frazzled, never asking about them or her husband until he gains weight and she throws darts, leaving the question of what is supposed to be likable about her.
  • A millennial brain trained that women should be ambitious says she should get on the plane after convincing a guy to spend $12 million, yet the film sets up a recession and a layoff and then treats it as no big deal; if she is ambitious, it is never clear in the first hour, so the character is undercooked in both script and performance, and she has no chemistry with Keaton, who has more with Angelian (as transcribed).
  • It is hard to believe she becomes successful at work since she seems like a clueless dipshit, going from two years of advertising experience and years at home to a high-powered executive, which is not how the workplace treats women after kids.
  • Michelle Pfeiffer is the replacement: it changes the whole dynamic and makes it interesting, but then the creep must be recast too, since Martin Mull is no threat to her, so Richard Gere; there are five more interesting versions of this film, and the Pfeiffer version ends with the mom leaving the family or having an affair while the husband watches soap operas.
  • Jack should have been much madder when Martin Mo (as transcribed) answers Carolyn's hotel phone in front of his friend and the kids, which is never resolved, and Carolyn finding Joan lying on her own bed is waved off too easily; Pfeiffer, queen of the 80s, 90s and 2000s, looks fantastic on the Maleficent 2 press tour.
  • There is a reason Terry Garr's career never exploded through the 80s, although she is good in Young Frankenstein and great in Tootsie; the frustration is that Tootsie Terry Garr is a character while this is only a sitcom mom, with Keaton given the fun things to do.
  • Meryl Streep is offered as one more idea, a fun part since she did weighty movies in the 80s, but she brings guilt and shame wherever she goes and would need a scene crying over missing Bobby's violin recital, which one host wanted and the other did not.
  • A parent who missed seven soccer games and a graduation during four weeks on the road at the NBA playoffs says the film never taps into that; the other host's mother, a successful lawyer who traveled, felt guilty, whereas this character does not care about her children at all, and Halloween, the best day for kids apart from birthdays, is the proof, though the $12 million pitch is conceded as a reason she has to be there.
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49:19

Half-Assed Internet Research

Producer Laura Shuler Donner (as transcribed) met John Hughes after reading his National Lampoon article and his stor...

Producer Laura Shuler Donner (as transcribed) met John Hughes after reading his National Lampoon article and his story of a disastrous stretch looking after his two kids; Hughes brought in Aaron Spelling from his TV deal; Universal dumped Hughes for working in Chicago and had others rewrite the script; Spelling said he made it to have a film to take his kids to; Keaton turned down Splash for Mr. Mom

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 00:49:19Read transcript
  • Producer Laura Shuler Donner (as transcribed), then at Motown Productions, read a National Lampoon article by John Hughes, kept in touch, and in a meeting he described a disastrous experience looking after his two children while his wife was away; she found it hilarious and they started working on the script.
  • Hughes had a TV deal with Aaron Spelling and brought him in as producer; Universal dumped Hughes because he worked in Chicago rather than LA and brought in other writers, and his script was apparently better, which the hosts believe.
  • Aaron Spelling's stated reason for making the movie was that he could not find a film suitable to take his kids to; a host doubts it, noting his kids were cut out of his estate.
  • Earlier, stepping on the category: Keaton turned down Splash to do Mr. Mom.
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50:04

Apex Mountain

Terry Garr; the concept of a Mr. Mom

Terry Garr; the concept of a Mr. Mom

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 00:50:04Read transcript
  • Terry Garr is a yes despite not being good here, because the Tootsie, Mr. Mom and Letterman combination is her apex; Keaton is a no, Martin Mull probably not, and John Hughes a no.
  • The concept of a Mr. Mom is probably at its apex here because the film created it; Detroit as a movie city is not, since Gung Ho and Beverly Hills Cop came a year later.
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50:50

Picking Nits

Nobody cares less about her kids than Carolyn; Jack losing all three kids in the grocery store; the terrible Schooner...

Nobody cares less about her kids than Carolyn; Jack losing all three kids in the grocery store; the terrible Schooner Tuna ad; the filthy house; the kids' advanced understanding of their parents' employment

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 00:50:50Read transcript
  • Does anyone care less about her kids than Terry Garr: she could come home to two kids instead of three and not notice for a day and a half; Keaton losing all his kids in the grocery store is defended as realistic by a host whose wife lost their son Ben in a London park for eleven minutes in 2012, since kids are like dogs and just run off.
  • Home Alone is raised as the most ridiculous version of leaving a kid behind, with the counter that people were not attached at the hip to their children then; the point is that she is a terrible parent, not a terrible mom, since getting a job does not stop you reading a bedtime story once.
  • The Schooner Tuna ad they end up with is really terrible and could have been made three percent better; the clip is played, and the hosts again conclude they ran out of time and film, though it gets the point across.
  • The house is disgustingly dirty, and Carolyn would at least notice that even if she missed a kid; the kids also seem to have an advanced understanding of their parents' employment status, which kids do not care about.
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54:14

Sequel, Prequel, Limited Series, or All-Black Remake

Yes; it has already been remade as a Vudu series

Yes; it has already been remade as a Vudu series

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 00:54:14Read transcript
  • It has already been remade as a ten-episode Vudu show (transcribed as voodoo), so the answer is yes.
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54:14

Probably Unanswerable Questions

How does Jack get his job back alongside Jeffrey Tambor's character, who was fudging numbers yet never gets fired?

How does Jack get his job back alongside Jeffrey Tambor's character, who was fudging numbers yet never gets fired?

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 00:54:14Read transcript
  • Keaton gets his job back at the end with the other two guys after it turns out Jeffrey Tambor's character was fudging numbers, yet Tambor is not fired; the cause and effect of sales falling after Jack left makes no sense and the whole resolution is incoherent, when Jack should demand that Tambor be out.
  • Jeffrey Tambor was this exact character for seven straight years, on Three's Company and The Ropers and in five movies of the era, so it was amazing when he was hired as Hank on Larry Sanders; sitcoms then would bring an actor back as a lawyer and eight episodes later as a doctor.
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55:40

Who Won the Movie?

Michael Keaton

Michael Keaton

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 00:55:40Read transcript
  • Not Terry Garr, both agree; Michael Keaton won the movie, which is not a controversial take: he is very likable and skates through a premise that could go wrong with total charm.
  • The hosts miss having a 2019 version of this era's Keaton, a funny, likable, approachable and unpredictable guy in his late twenties; Chris Evans tried to be that person but is not funny, is too obviously hot and is a bit of a jerk.
  • Keaton is handsome in an approachable, attainable way, confident without being a jerk or edgy; famous people now need a thing, while Keaton and Tom Hanks were in the running for so long because both were everymen, and nobody fills that role now despite many trying.
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More from the conversation

The plot is recited, an unemployed Detroit engineer staying home with three kids while his wife returns to advertising, and the hosts note that the premise was genuinely groundbreaking in 1983 even though it plays as normal now; the film invented the Mr. Mom catchphrase.
Approx. transcript time · 00:01:05Read transcript
1983 sits in a role-reversal decade: Tootsie the year before, also with Terry Garr, then Baby Boom and Three Men and a Baby in 1987 and the Freaky Friday type; Baby Boom is debated as the mom's version and the original can-women-have-it-all movie alongside Working Girl, and the era is read as the first time enough women were in the workplace to flip the traditional characters of 60s and 70s TV.
Approx. transcript time · 00:02:14Read transcript
9 to 5 with Jane Fonda, Dolly Parton and Lily Tomlin, and Norma Rae, are recalled as precursors; 9 to 5 now reads as a Me Too movie since its second half is revenge on the boss, and the hosts agree these films have aged pretty well because they were at least asking questions society still has not answered.
Approx. transcript time · 00:04:14Read transcript
It is an Aaron Spelling production from his Dynasty peak and written by John Hughes, who landed National Lampoon's Vacation and Mr. Mom the same year; Universal took the script away and had others rewrite it, but the film's $64 million gross led to Hughes's three-picture, $30 million deal for Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club and Weird Science, so Mr. Mom is credited with the entire smart teen-movie genre that Netflix is now remaking.
Approx. transcript time · 00:05:24Read transcript
Michael Keaton and Terry Garr were Mount Rushmore Letterman guests when Letterman was the most influential late-night show from 82 to 87: Garr was his number-one female guest with a flirty relationship capped by the dare to shower in his office bathroom, the Drew Barrymore of the 80s, while Keaton, like Tom Hanks, would crush as a guest, making this a Letterman-approved baby of a movie.
Approx. transcript time · 00:07:12Read transcript
Night Shift (1982) is explained to the host who has not seen it: Ron Howard's first movie, Henry Winkler shaking off the Fonz, Shelley Long as a prostitute, a brothel run out of a morgue, and Keaton as Billy Blaze in one of the funniest characters of the 80s, which made the question of his next movie a big deal.
Approx. transcript time · 00:08:53Read transcript
Hanks and Keaton went head to head for ten years like Bird and Magic; Hanks won with the Oscars, A League of Their Own, Philadelphia and Forrest Gump, but Keaton had the advantage at moments and both are Hall of Famers; Keaton openly says he turned down Splash, unlike the actor code that kept Sean Penn from naming the Pulp Fiction role he turned down.
Approx. transcript time · 00:10:11Read transcript
Producer Donner told Newsweek that Mr. Mom became part of the vernacular, spoke for men at home with the kids and made housewives feel appreciated; the host born a year after the film finds it hard to believe nobody was writing about this in 1983, and TV moms like Mrs. Brady, who even had Alice the maid, and Mrs. C from Happy Days are recalled as the stabilizing-force model.
Approx. transcript time · 00:11:53Read transcript
Kramer vs. Kramer, a planned Rewatchable from which the guest was briefly kicked off for not having seen a divorce movie, shows how a mom leaving for a job read as evil forty years ago; here Terry Gard's jump to fifteen-hour days is unexamined, yet she is not made evil and the only guilt is the Halloween scene, which the 2019 working woman on the show finds refreshing.
Approx. transcript time · 00:13:30Read transcript
In 2019 the film would be eviscerated for what it lacks, which is part of why rewatching it is enjoyable: a premise, some funny scenes, a happy ending; one host saw it as one of the kids and now watches as a parent with questions like why none of the kids are in pre-K, and there is still some sex in it for a PG film made to bring the kids to.
Approx. transcript time · 00:15:01Read transcript
Director Stan Dragati (as transcribed) was mainly famous for being married to Cheryl Teagues (as transcribed); he made seven movies, this probably the only big success, and his 1989 She's Out of Control with Tony Danza as the father of a suddenly hot fifteen-year-old is in the running for worst 80s movie.
Approx. transcript time · 00:53:08Read transcript
Wrap-up: a fascinating rewatch, with 9 to 5 proposed as a future episode and Baby Boom as a doubleheader, since the Diane Keaton character from Baby Boom and Michael Keaton's character would make an interesting pairing.
Approx. transcript time · 00:57:38Read transcript
Diane Keaton is completely miscast in The Godfather, as if she wandered onto the wrong set and was told to say abortion fifteen times, but she is great in Baby Boom as Nancy Meyers's proxy; the other host agrees she is not good in Godfather.
Approx. transcript time · 00:58:09Read transcript
Next week's episode is Den of Thieves with Shea Serrano and Chris Ryan.
Approx. transcript time · 00:59:11Read transcript