Here’s my Father Figures review from Warner Bros. Pictures starring Ed Helms and Owen Wilson and directed by Lawrence Sher. Opens January 17.

Synopsis:

Upon learning that their mother has been lying to them for years about their allegedly deceased father, two fraternal twin brothers hit the road in order to find him.

Trailer:

Father Figures Review Pros

• Ed Helms shows a different side in terms of acting here and its surprisingly good. It’s nice to see him act more boorish and irritable like Jason Bateman does. You know what, I think he did a good Jason Bateman impression here. Just kidding. The guy can be good when the material needs him to be different kind of funny.
• Owen Wilson is Owen Wilson here. Good for a few laughs here and there and just very chill.
• I’m surprised that they actually have comedian Katt Williams here in this film. The dude had some great moments in the few minutes of screen time he has and I LOL’ed at the banter between him and Wilson.
• Story-wise its got a good weight if you frame it as a family film.
• Glen Close, J.K. Simmons were great to see onscreen and while they also had limited screentime, they did wonders with the minutes they were onscreen.
• I had to go yee-haw when they dropped in Terry Bradshaw.
• If there’s anything truly worth writing home about for Father Figures, it’s got to be that twist at the end which I will not spoil.

Father Figures Review Cons

• Owen Wilson’s still Owen Wilson. Not really complaining but could they have tweaked the guy’s character a bit?
• Plot holes here and there. Like what happened to Helms’ kid in the ending? Wasn’t there any sort of closure between father and son? It totally felt forced, the way he changed. But hey, not giving too much gripe, it’s a comedy. Or at least I think it’s a comedy.
• Father Figures isn’t really sure whether it’s a family movie with hints of comedy here and there or if it’s a comedy film which touches on the subject of family and fatherhood. If they had just picked one particular approach, the movie won’t have mixed emotions all throughout.

VERDICT

For this Father Figures review, I’d have to go with mildly positive as a rating. It’s not that great but its not bad. Somewhere in between. Great change of pace for comedian Ed Helms and still ho-hum for Owen Wilson.

3/5

Father Figures opens January 17 from Warner Bros. Pictures and will be exclusively screened at Ayala Malls Cinemas (Trinoma and Greenbelt)