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Sadly Over-hyped

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

If you've got kids, you'll see so much here that rings true. It's the kind of movie they don't make anymore, "real" situations, not high-concept, ensemble casts that have actual characters to work with, and an attempt at showing life instead of fantasy. Some of this doesn't hold up almost 30 years later since the whole thing is devoid of anyone who isn't white and middle class (saving the boy Cool) and it reeks of Reagan era propaganda encouraging the making of more babies, but you can overlook that because the moments themselves are real. Saw this as a kid and had that diarrhea song stuck in my head for days... it all came back!

This is the film where you get the right amount and quality of social commentary of the morally fragile and void America of the 1980's along with good comedy relief, interesting and well drawn characters, good dialog with some meaningful messages and symbols.There are many subplots that crowd the film just enough for those 2 hours plus not to feel imposed or too ambitious at all. Each one telling its own purposeful story cinematically, and giving a meaningful message outside of the film's frame.One of these 'important' films that will serve as historic pop-culture document for future generations to look into and analyze the decade it belonged to from a sociological/cultural perspective.8/10.

What leads me to watch this film is Dianne Wiest's singular Oscar-nomination, how rare a mainstream comedy stars Steve Martin could generate an Oscar-caliber performance? Is it as wackily diverting as Marisa Tomei in MY COUSIN VINNY (1992, 7/10) or a rowdy and raunchy scene-stealer as Melissa McCarthy in BRIDESMAIDS (2011, 7/10)? Neither is the case here, thus the answer could only be that it is Academy's honeymoon period with Wiest, who has just won an Oscar 3 years earlier for Woody Allen's HANNAH AND HER SISTERS (1986, 8/10) and would harvest her second trophy pretty soon in another Allen's satire BULLETS OVER Broadway (1994, 8/10).However, skimming through the credits, it is a quite impressive ensemble here, besides Wiest, there are Oscar winners Steenburgen and Robards, the flash-in-the-pan Oscar nominee Tom Hulce with future leading man Keanu Reeves and Joaquin Phoenix, the burn-too-soon starlet Martha Plimpton, and it is directed by Ron Howard to boot, chances are the film might be more than a crowd-pleasing family fare, and again, I am so wrong!It is a big family, its patriarch Frank (Robards) has four children, the eldest Helen (Wiest), a divorcée with two children, the adolescent Julie (Plimpton) and the introvert teenager Garry (Phoenix); Gil (Martin) is the second, he and his wife Karen (Steenburgen) have 3 children, among whom Kevin (Fisher) is a school-kid has some mood issues and needs special treatment; Susan (Kozak) is the youngest daughter, married to Nathan (Moranis), they have one girl Patty (Schwan), who is under Nathan's unconventional upbringing method and on her fast lane to become a child prodigy; the most problematic one is the youngest son Larry (Hulce), a black sheep in the family, a ne'er-do-well addicts to gambling. Spoiler alert, this is not the end, the family is keeping expanding as if it is a blatant advertisement of unprotected sex. Not exactly an out-and-out comedy, the film sums up a menagerie of headaches of being a parent, all are laboriously entwined in a cumbersome plot, and even though, in the end, everyone is still fearlessly riding on the way to make babies, yeah, being a parent is sometimes irritating, but you know what, no one can escape that, 3 is never enough, 4 might be better, even though he or she may end up being a jerk like Larry. It might be edifying 25 years ago (low birth rate in the state I assume), but now, it seems shamelessly narrow-minded and self- pleasingly irresponsible, we don't buy that now, not everyone suits to be a parent, it is a demanding job and should need a certificate, paraphrasing the dimwitted Tod (Reeves) who expresses the most incisive remark which should be legitimized so that there will be far less lousy parents in the world. On a whole, the film doesn't age well, its content feels uneasily predictable, most of time it persists in stating the obvious and plugging a unified American lifestyle, the cast is inequitable, Martin, Steenburgen, Wiest and Robards all have their moments from time to time, but Hulce and Moranis are tainted by the crappy script. Even grandma's sensible credo (roller coaster Vs. merry-go-around) sounds jarringly self-important near the end, anyway, not my cup-of-tea, period.

Gil Buckman (Steve Martin) tries to be a better father than his own unavailable father. It's the funny story of the extended Buckman family from Ron Howard. Mary Steenburgen plays his wife. Dianne Wiest plays his single-mother sister. Rick Moranis and Harley Jane Kozak play the uptight parents. Tom Hulce is the black sheep of the family. The great list of actors include Joaquin Phoenix, Keanu Reeves, Jason Robards, and Martha Plimpton.This is just a fun and insightful look at big family dynamics. It's got both pathos and comedy. This is possibly Ron Howard at his best. It would be easy to drive this multi character storyline chaos into an unmitigated mess. All the different characters could have been reduced to stereotypes. Instead these characters feel like they truly fit in a family. This is a great feel good movie.