''Like Father'' is a 2018 American dramedy film written and directed by

Lauren Miller Lauren Miller may refer to: * Lauren Miller Rogen Lauren Anne Miller Rogen ( Miller; born July 24, 1982) is an American actress, comedian, screenwriter, and director. She has appeared in the films '' Superbad'' (2007), '' Zack and Miri Make a P ...

, in her feature-length directorial debut. The film stars

Kristen Bell Kristen Anne Bell (born July 18, 1980) is an American actress, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. List of Kristen Bell performances, Her work includes both film and television, and List of awards and nominations received by Kristen Bell, h ...

Kelsey Grammer Allen Kelsey Grammer (born February 21, 1955) is an American actor and producer. He gained fame for his role as the psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane on the NBC sitcom ''Cheers'' (1984–1993) and its spin-off ''Frasier'' (1993–2004, and again F ...

, and

Seth Rogen Seth Aaron Rogen (; born April 15, 1982) is a Canadian actor, comedian, and filmmaker. Known primarily for his comedic Leading actor, leading man roles in films, the accolades he has received include nominations for three Golden Globe Awards, ...

. The plot follows a woman who finally bonds with her estranged father on what was supposed to be her honeymoon cruise after she is left at the altar. The film was released on August 3, 2018, by

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

Plot

Rachel is a young, workaholic executive New Yorker who takes a work call right before going down the aisle. The processional music starts, she finally hangs up, stashing the phone in her bouquet and starts the walk. The officiant is her boss, who shares some personal details about the groom, and then turns to Rachel. When her phone drops out of the bouquet, the groom realizes she will not ever really get away from her job and calls off the wedding. Then her estranged father Harry, whom Rachel has not seen since she was five years old, is at the wedding and sees it all. He races out and she is not far behind. The next day Rachel tries, and fails, to be a professional back in the office. Sent home, she soon binge drinks alone, then Harry catches up with her and they resume in a bar. Spending all night drinking, they make the drunken decision to take the pre-booked Caribbean honeymoon cruise together. The morning after, out at sea, the trip seems somewhat less amusing. The pair arrive as strangers, but over the course of a few adventures, a couple of umbrella-clad cocktails and much soul-searching, they return with a renewed appreciation for family and life. Harry is a deadbeat dad and the trip is his road to redemption. Like Rachel, he had been a workaholic but, through being there for his business partner as family, he sacrifices his company to care for him. A glimpse is seen of Rachel’s big client, a couple of former New Yorkers, hippies who decided to become organic potato chip makers, now living upstate. An example of people who abandoned the rat race for a more fulfilling life. Harry and Rachel bond with the three couples assigned to their dinner table on the cruise: one young, one 50-year-anniversary, and one mid-life newlyweds. On a hike with the group, a breaking point comes when Rachel insists on being on her phone at a gorgeous secluded waterfall. Throwing it into the water, Harry begins to wake her up to the fact that she is missing out on life. After receiving a call from a collection service at her work, Rachel learns Harry is bankrupt. Thinking he came to her for money, she unloads on him only to find out Harry's business partner Gabe died and left him feeling lonely and regretting his life decisions. He tells her he's got the bankruptcy handled and came looking to repair his relationship with her and will be moving to Los Angeles after settling his debts. At the end of the cruise, their relationship is much improved and Rachel promises to help him move. At first, after the cruise Rachel dives head first into a new role in her advertising company, forgetting any lessons she may have learned. Her breakthrough comes at the very end. She reroutes a trip to meet with their big upstate client for L.A. to help her dad move as promised.

Cast

as Rachel Hamilton *

as Harry Hamilton, Rachel's father *

as Jeff * Paul W. Downs as Jim * Zach Appelman as Steve * Amber Hodgkiss as Ginny * Leonard Ouzts as Dan * Blaire Brooks as Beth * Anthony Laciura as Leonard * Mary Looram as Shirley *

Brett Gelman Brett Gelman (born October 6, 1976) is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his role as Murray Bauman in Netflix's horror-supernatural series ''Stranger Things'' and as Martin in the BBC comedy '' Fleabag''. Gelman began his care ...

as Frank Lerue *

as Tired Woman * Jon Foster as Owen * Kimiko Glenn as Geena

Production

In July 2017, it was announced that

and

would star in ''Like Father'', the directorial debut of

, who also wrote the screenplay. In June 2018, a trailer for the film was released, which revealed that

would co-star. Lauren Miller produced the film with Anders Bard. Principal photography took place in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

and the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

in August 2017. Some of the film was filmed on Royal Caribbean’s '' Harmony of the Seas''.

Release

''Like Father'' was released on

on August 3, 2018.

Critical response

On the review aggregation website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The site consensus reads, "''Like Father'' unites an alarmingly talented cast for a predictable rom-com that does nothing to counter the negative stereotypes surrounding the genre." On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, the film has a weighted average score of 52 out of 100, based on reviews from 15 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 7170950 2018 films American comedy films 2018 comedy films Netflix original films Films scored by Roger Neill 2018 directorial debut films Films about father–daughter relationships Films about honeymoons 2010s English-language films 2010s American films Films set on cruise ships Films set in New York City Films set in Jamaica English-language comedy films