If you get past the scene where Jane Curtin whines when husband Dabney Coleman tells her that he doesn't want to start another family (having been through that with his late first wife before he married the now 39 year old Curtin 10 years before), you may be one of the few. Her very annoying yowl, meant to be funny, only lasts 45 seconds but seems eternal. This is a formula 80's sitcomish TV movie with a well paired team dealing with an extremely formula script surrounded by a few amusing supporting characters but a cloying script that is as predictable as it is tedious. Coleman, a good actor but not exactly leading man material, tries to get past the stereotypical blowhard character he's usually stuck with, and manages to create a fairly likeable character, but Curtin isn't as lucky with the material given to her.
The always funny Florence Stanley is delightfully flip as Coleman's secretary, but Julia Duffy adds another self centered princess to her resume, rather harsh to step mommy in a passive aggressive manner. Such familiar faces as Peter Michael Goetz, David Doyle, Claire Malis and Marla Adams add a few nice moments, but the overall mood of the film just seems way too familiar, and having been better written and done better in other movies. The issue is that this is played completely for broadness rather than realism, and after a while that element just had this getting on my nerves. When the minor characters (particularly Stanley and Adams as a sexy sophisticate) end up being more interesting than the leads, that's a major sign that something is wrong.
The always funny Florence Stanley is delightfully flip as Coleman's secretary, but Julia Duffy adds another self centered princess to her resume, rather harsh to step mommy in a passive aggressive manner. Such familiar faces as Peter Michael Goetz, David Doyle, Claire Malis and Marla Adams add a few nice moments, but the overall mood of the film just seems way too familiar, and having been better written and done better in other movies. The issue is that this is played completely for broadness rather than realism, and after a while that element just had this getting on my nerves. When the minor characters (particularly Stanley and Adams as a sexy sophisticate) end up being more interesting than the leads, that's a major sign that something is wrong.