Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Wonderful character development!

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

To get to know his girlfriend's son (Ethan Embry), a working-class good guy (Ed O'Neill) volunteers to pick him up from a prep school -- only to learn that her son is not the nicest kid.This film has an impressive pedigree. The director, Peter Faiman, is not well known, but he was the director of "Crocodile Dundee", which makes him a small legend. And the writer was John Hughes, a giant in the industry."Dutch" received extremely poor reviews from critics, where it has a 14% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes with an average score of 3.7 out of 10 from 21 reviews. It was also a flop at the box office, grossing less than $5 million compared to its $17 million budget. Despite poor reception from critics, the film has garnered a cult following (as is common for Hughes films).

Writer-producer John Hughes is back again with yet another collection of smart-aleck kids and stupid adults. This time around the boy is a rich brat who needs to be taught a lesson by his aggressively blue collar, surrogate dad, played by Ed O'Neill (who gets a knee jerk laugh of recognition from fans of the TV sit-com 'Married…With Children'). His job is to chaperon the ungrateful whippersnapper home to Chicago from his Southern prep school for Thanksgiving, but of course they hate each other on sight, and have to endure a predictable bonding routine after the usual battery of abuse: comic relief kicks in the groin and so forth. Peter Faiman ('Crocodile Dundee') gets the director's credit, but make no mistake: the film belongs to Hughes, who certainly knows by now how to recycle a formula. It's all been done before of course, and even those less discriminating viewers at whom the film is aimed won't fail to notice how quickly it lapses into the same, tired clichés.

The chemistry between Ed O'Niel as 'Dutch' and Ethan Randall as 'Doyle' is excellent. It makes the movie work, whereas other lesser talents would have produced a ho-hum movie. The excellence is not always found in the script, and these two actors bring a mediocre script up to the level of excellent. The young actor 'Ethan Randall' that played Doyle is in reality none other than 'Ethan Embry', the actor who played 'Frank Smith' on the circa-2003 version of 'L.A. Dragnet', costarring with Ed O'Niel once again!Unfortunately, Ethan Embry was replaced in the second season of 'Dragnet' by an entire roster of new (and boring) actors...including the yet-to-be-desperate housewife Eva Longoria! Those two work well together.

I have watched this film so many time and I'm so happy that it finally came out on DVD(I actually never taught it would but thanks to "Anchor bay entertainment" it did) The trailer of the movie describe really well what the movie is about "The story of a boy who lost the child in himself and the man that helps him find it". It's my favorite movie written by John Huges and I'm a big John Huges fan. Ethan Randall/Embry plays his part really well,he was perfect for the role of Doyle,he made the transition between the angry rude Doyle of the beginning of the film to the normal 12 year old kid you see at the end looks very natural and his chemistry with Ed Oneil is fantastic.Ed Oneil one of the most underrated actor in America just because of his Al Bundy persona.I Love Ed,I grew up watching Married with...and I have seen most of his other project,including the new yet short lived "Dragnet" TV show.That guy got style and he's ten times more talented than some of the guys you see on the big screen these days,I'm looking forward to his next project.Dutch was in my opinion his best role so far.Well this film his a classic in my book and it has a great message to it. I'll give it a 9 out of 10.