Michael_Elliott Getting Even with Dad (1994) ** (out of 4)Ray (Ted Danson) is a life long criminal who has never had too much time for his son Timmy (Macaulay Culkin). After Ray gets a major score his son decides to hide it and says he will only tell where it's at if daddy will spend more time with him.GETTING EVEN WITH DAD is a comedy where the screenwriter forgot to add any laughs. This is a pretty disappointing film and it's easy to see why Culkins' star was beginning to fall thanks to films like this one. It's really too bad that the film forgot the laughs because Danson and Culkin could have made for a much better comedy.What you've basically got here is a rather mean-spirited film that deals with a rather ugly subject but does it in such a way that you can't help but roll your eyes more than laugh. The deadbeat father is going to be taught a lesson and of course we know how it's going to end. Throughout the running time the kid gets to have fun doing the things he always wanted to do and of course daddy begins to realize that being a dad can be fun.Then, of course, you have the drama that enters when someone isn't happy about daddy going straight. Again, both Danson and Culkin are fine comic actors but they're pretty much given nothing to do here. Both Saul Rubinek and Hector Elizondo are wasted in their roles and the lack of laughs means GETTING EVEN WITH DAD isn't worth watching.

jackcwelch23 I don't know why Macaulay Culkin made this movie. I mean, I do know his dad forced him to, but I don't know why he didn't run away from home in protest. Even he must have been dismayed making something that was just a cheap rip off of his most famous movie role. Ted Danson is an unlikable jerk, his two moron loser friends make Marv and Harry look like road scholars and the music is fingernails on a chalkboard obnoxious. It also contains maybe the most unromantic romance in movie history with him and Mrs. Rent a cop. Vomit. Not a single moment of genuine heart is here. It is by the numbers in every respect. If you took out the dumb slapstick all this would be is a cringe worthy father son after school special. After a lot of stinkers, this was obviously the straw that broke Macaulay's back. I can imagine him jumping up in happiness when that's a wrap was finally uttered. I can also imagine Ted Danson wandering back to TV grateful to still be alive.Maybe the reason this movie annoys the hell out of me was it was that we watched the VHS copy of it about 200 times at our holiday house as it was one of the few kids movies on the shelf. For some reason, Home alone 1 and 2 were nowhere to be seen. Man I would have even taken Richie Rich over this pile of garbage.

EDP2000 The movie is about an ex-con named Ray Gleason (played by Ted Danson), who plans to steal millions of dollars in rare coins, along with his two cronies Carl and Bob (played by Saul Rubinek and Gailard Sartain. Their plan is thwarted when his sister drops off his son named Timmy (played by Macaulay Culkin). He hides the coins somewhere his father won't find them. He agrees to tell them where the coins are on one condition: if they take him places for a week. But a female cop named Teresa (played by Glenne Headly) goes undercover to find out what Gleason is doing. And she falls for him. On the other hand, the cronies decide to find the rare coins themselves. And of course, they fail. Near the end, Gleason finds the bag in a bus locker, which turned out to have pennies in it, but still gets arrested, along with Carl, and Bob got off scot-free. And the bag with the real coins got retrieved by Teresa in a mall. To be honest, it's not so bad. It's not a perfect movie, but it's great entertainment.

blitzingau The movie starts in pretty interesting fashion when Macauley Culkin is deposited on the doorstep of his father, Ted Danson, just as he and his mates are preparing for a heist. However, the movie soon degenerates into "Home Alone" style antics as the young son brilliantly outsmarts his father time and time again. This all seems very familiar. Eventually the movie ends after nearly 2 1/2 hours of capers and disbelief. I wish they had of keeped the son out of it- police trying to 'get even' with the crooks sounds like a much better movie.