Review of Like Father (2018) by Pinkpantsnsalt — 28 Aug 2020

I grew up watching Kelsey Grammar as the lovable and strange psychiatrist dispensing life lessons as a patron of Cheers. I followed his character, Frazier Crane, move to Seattle to host a radio talk show and navigate life there with his brother and live-in father. I’ll admit, Frazier influenced me like an uncle, so I was curious how he would show up in the Netflix movie Like Father.

Playing the role of Harold in this movie, Grammar is joined by Kristen Bell, his estranged, and successful daughter cast as Rachael. The film quickly, and thankfully, navigates the unoriginal bride-left-at-the-alter set-up into the main event; a honey moon cruise that turns into a reconciliation tour. A week long tour that ends on shore in a perfectly unfinished moment. The cast of characters that shape this tale are mostly other honeymooners assigned as ‘table-mates’ for the cruise. The stereo-typed mix of personalities make for a delightful, if not predictable set of scenes. Directed by Laura Rogen, who also wrote the screen play, the film extracts enough out of each character to move the main event along without sidetracking the viewer. The main event, of course, is the unwinding of both Harold and Rachael as individuals and as a father-daughter duo which leads to an eventual moment of reconciliation.

There is drama, laughter, suspense, and the seemingly mandatory Netflix make-the-audience-cringe scene; a mini-tryst between Rachael and a Canadian teacher (Seth Rogan) is simply gross. Sorry Laura, but Seth does not measure up to Kristen Bell on screen, or off. The films leaves the audience feeling good, yet unfinished. There is the expected reconciliation, and first wave of forgiveness between Harold and Racheal, but not a definitive end. When Harold and Rachael join together to sing a rendition of Come Sail Away by Styx, you believe It caps off a journey and a cruise that brought them together again. But this well crafted movie offers one more voyage to a final scene that ends with a memorable embrace. Reminiscent of an episode of Frasier, or a rant from Dr. Crane on Cheers, the movie shares a simple lesson; Love can be shared, without being spoken.