Redundant and unnecessary.

Just so...so bad

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

I can't give it a ten because they could have gotten someone better than Susan St. James but I enjoyed this film when I saw it in theaters many moons ago. Michael Schultz has never gotten his due as a director and this is another example of that. The surface story of an absentee father finally owing up to his son is quite good and rings true. I find the subplot of a affluent guy brought down to earth through circumstance prophetic of how America has went through similar change over the last 25 years. This movie wasn't very well liked when it came out I believe because it didn't pull punches in that regard. There was no magic bullet to solve their problems. It took time and work for the father and son to come to an understanding. I've always kinda wished Denzel and George would work together again. They had good chemistry together.

This was the first time I had seen Denzel Washington and our family really enjoyed the movie. We are a Black family, so the White dad buying into the stereotypes about Black people struck us as quite amusing and he deserved his comeuppance for his sorry thinking. The movie was funny and also touching. True, there was a lack of depth in some of the acting, but not all movies that are made contain a great amount of depth. For the most part, if you want to watch a movie that won't assault your eyes or ears, yet entertain you with some true and humorous depiction of slices of life, this is a good one to check out. I've been a Denzel fan ever since I saw "Carbon Copy" and it is a part of my "favorites" collection.

While he had appeared on TV, this was Denzel Washington's first movie role. Already 26, here he plays Roger Porter, a teenager, whose single mother had just died, and he was in town to look up his father. His father just happens to be Walter Whitney (George Segal), a well-off business man working for his stepfather. His wife is played by Susan Saint James. Jack Warden is the stepfather.Walter of course is very surprised when this young black man shows up, but when he mentions his mother's name, Walter knows it is true, because he had had a relationship with her, loved her, but social conventions prevented him for marrying her. He was surprised to find he had a son. So, the whole movie is about how Walter and Roger deal with the situations this puts them into.It is not a particularly good movie. Too many of the situations are too absurd to be taken seriously, but are not funny either. Significant only for the first movie role of Washington. The comedian Dick Martin (Rowan and Martin TV show) has an interesting role as a lawyer.SPOILERS FOLLOW. Because of the way Walter's assets are set up, when his wife kicks him out for having a black son he is essentially broke, and he loses his job. He and Roger end up staying in a very poor section of Watts. But the big in-joke of the movie is that Walter thinks Roger is a school drop-out, because of their first conversation when Roger says he is 17, and doesn't need high school. In reality he had graduated early, had already completed his first year in pre-med, and was headed back to college. Walter went with him, the movie ends with them driving East in the battered convertible.

This little known 1981 Avco Embassy release was the film debut for the ever talented Denzel Washington but I certainly wouldn't blame him if he ever wished to forget about its existence. They have to start somewhere after all and Washington started here in this comedy about a middle aged executive (George Segal) who is happily married and has a successful career. He feels as though his life is complete. Then, suddenly, a long forgotten illegitimate son (Washington) from a previous relationship tracks him down and wants to bond with the father he never knew. Comic complications ensue but none of them are really genuinely funny. It would take another three years before Washington would make another film but his great supporting role in "A Soldier's Story" was a sure sign of an excellent film career to come. View this one only as a curiosity piece as to how Washington started out in his film career before he hit it big and long before he got those two well deserved Academy Awards.