I'm not one for melodrama movies but once I realized that Steve Martin's character was NOT the biological parent of the main child in this movie I was glued.
So here I go ranting and raving about those issues that seem to fall prey on non-biological parents, custody or not. (being stepparents, legal guardians, adoptees, etc) Myself being a stepparent I am passionate about anything pertaining to the laws, quotas, tabloids, and hypocrisies that follow people anywhere in this category.
The first time I walked into this movie I missed the first 15 minutes, so that totally blew all reasons as to how and why Steve Martin's character ends up with this cute-as-a-button child. But seeing the way he scrambled along at his trial and errors of child-raising I immediately knew he was not the bio-father (because all movies make childless people into hapless idiots with no clue) and I knew somewhere along the line the bio-father was going to make his all time grand entrance. Obviously once he showed up there was going to be a battle for the tyke.
Steve Martin is always his adorable, amusing self. Coming across as a sad, easy going father figure to his new found kin, and when I say found, I truly mean found. The little toe-head cherub who plays his adopted daughter, Matilda, is an absolute doll, who couldn't resist keeping her?
What lies ugly beneath their quiet lives is that Matilda's biological father finds that time and ignorance make for a change of heart. He decides he wants his daughter back after ten years of absolute silence that he was ever the father. (The bio-mother having fallen upon a tragic overdose is quickly cut out of the story)
What I find disturbing is that after all this time the father feels it's his right to rip this child from the sanctuary that her adopted father has created for her after all these years. And of course, his big bucks pay for outlandish lawyers who argue the bio's all-mighty dollar will improve her quality of life.
Thus begins the concept that since Martin is poor he cannot possibly offer the best of the world to his daughter. As if ponies, scholarships, and jet rides around the world are going to make her a high standing community servant.
There can be a lot of controversy behind this film, but since I had never heard of it until flipping passed it on HBO, I guess few others are
going to get riled up.
The movie is over all quiet, nearly peaceful in the manner to which Martin loves his daughter, how her very entrance into his life improved everything about him. Tension builds as the bio-father and his wife try to gain custody. I certainly felt the pain for the bio's wife as she lost her child after obviously being pregnant for some time. The pain and anguish as she stated "I'll give you a child, I promise." Made me squirm uncomfortably. And when she begged him to adopt other children and he refused to consider it...well, you just don't know how to feel about this bio-dad at all.
Steve Martin has quite a few heart-to-heart lines, for example when he appeals to the bio-father not to take his daughter he says, "When a gift walks through your door and you refuse it, it's going to be excepted elsewhere." and "somebody stole my money, but left me a daughter in its place." Not quote for quote, but you get the picture.
Over all, it's not a movie I'd go out of my way to watch, unless you miss the first 15 minutes (so I had to watch it again) but certainly it gives you that warm, fuzzy feeling at how parents (whether bio or not) and their children can really be each other's world.
Big-screen favorite Steve Martin (Father of the Bride) shines in this heartwarming motion picture about a single dad who discovers the joys and pain o...More at Buy.com
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