Like Father Like Son

Directed by Rod Daniel, Like Father Like Son details the chaos that ensues after Dudley Moore’s Jack switches bodies with his teenage son (Kirk Cameron’s Chris) after he accidentally ingests a magic potion. Filmmaker Rod Daniel delivers a perpetually watchable comedy that admittedly gets off to a rather erratic start, as Like Father Like Son doesn’t contain a whole lot worth recommending or getting excited about before the aforementioned body switching occurs – with the picture, past that point, adopting exactly the sort of over-the-top feel one might’ve anticipated based on the larger-than-life premise (ie Daniel exploits the scenario for all it’s worth, generally speaking). It’s clear, certainly, that the movie’s success is due largely to the go-for-broke efforts of its two stars, as both Moore and Cameron turn in gleefully broad work that proves effective at alleviating the questionable aspects of Lorne Cameron and Steve Bloom’s screenplay and, ultimately, paves the way for a second half rife with laugh-out-loud funny bits of silliness – which does, in the end, cement Like Father Like Son‘s place as one of the more memorable entries in the late 1980s’ body-switching boom.

*** out of ****

Leave a comment