Mr. Mom is a fun, light-hearted movie that offers something for every family member. It’s entertaining, and the cast is phenomenal. If you haven’t seen this one yet, you really should.
Originally released in 1983, Mr. Mom has been re-released on Blu-ray by Shout Select as a collector’s edition.
“While Caroline (Teri Garr, Tootsie) re-enters the workforce and becomes the rising star of her advertising agency, her newly unemployed husband Jack (Michael Keaton, Night Shift) finds himself a new job . . . as a stay-at-home dad. But if Jack thinks his old career in the automotive industry was tough, he has no idea what’s waiting for him at home: the ins and outs of dropping the kids off at school, soap operas, woobies, babies with chili, a clean-up on aisle seven and a vacuum cleaner named “Jaws.” Not to mention the seedy neighborhood drama!
Inspired, in part, by writer John Hughes’ (Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles) own life lessons as a clueless stay-at-home father, Mr. Mom is sure to have every parent slapping their foreheads with sympathy, as they slap their knees with laughter.” – Official Description
The movie, directed by Stan Dragoti, runs 91 minutes.
Mr. Mom follows the story of the Butler family. At the start of the movie’s first act, we see Jack (Keaton) as he wakes up and gets ready for work. Jack doesn’t really appear to be a morning person, but his wife Caroline (Garr) clearly is. Caroline is super-mom. She’s awake and cheerful; she gently wakes the kids up; she makes breakfast for everyone, all with a bright smile on her face. It is obvious that Caroline loves being a mom, and it’s a job she does well.
After he quickly eats breakfast, Jack’s car pool group arrives to pick him up for work. It is then that we start to see just how impressive this movie’s cast really is. Jack’s coworkers are played by Christopher Lloyd, Tom Leopold, and Jeffrey Tambor, with Tambor’s character as the boss of the group. The coworkers ride into work together, and everything appears to be business as usual. It’s only when Jack gets to work that he learns he is being let go – something his boss didn’t mention during the car ride that morning.
Caroline and the kids are supportive and encouraging when Jack gets home that night, but he is clearly upset. When Caroline offers to go back to work to help make ends meet, he bets her that he can find a job first. He’s wrong.
The start of the second act is really where the movie’s role-reversal concept begins to come into play. As Caroline begins her new job at an advertising agency, Jack starts his new job as a stay-at-home dad. He quickly learns that all the things he thought would be simple and easy are far from it. A lot of the movie’s humor comes from watching Jack adjust to his new role. Nothing is easy at first.
Caroline, on the other hand, is doing quite well. She approaches her job from the perspective of a mom, not that of a degree-holding executive. Her skills and looks attract the attention of her boss, Ron Richardson. Portrayed by Martin Mull, Richardson serves as the film’s main antagonist. He is constantly at odds with Jack and increasingly tries to keep Caroline at work and away from her family. In one particularly memorable scene, Ron arrives at the Butler home to pick Caroline up for work. Jack, feeling jealous, decides to greet Ron with a chainsaw and matching tough guy act.
The other villain of the film is the neighbor Joan (Ann Jillian). Joan has noticed that Caroline is now at work all the time and that Jack is often home alone. She is attracted to him and begins making romantic advances toward him.
A majority of the laughs and gags are packed into these first two acts. Jack must figure out car pool lanes, home repairs, the vacuum cleaner, and people’s dedication to soap operas. He’s out of his element, but doing his best to learn. One of the film’s best scenes features Jack trying to simultaneously feed his children, fight an out-of-control vacuum cleaner, help the TV repairwoman, and fix a laundry disaster that has loosened the pipes and caused water to spray everywhere in the basement. It’s a fast, action-packed sequence that’s highly entertaining.
The first two acts feature more of an emotional storyline for Caroline rather than comedic. While she is feeling confident due to her success at work, she misses being home with her children and seeing them grow. On the evening following the scene just described, Caroline comes home to find her family asleep on the couch. She’s glad they had a nice day, but obviously feels like she missed out.
The final act is a bit more serious. Jack gets the wrong idea about Caroline and her boss, and Caroline begins to get the wrong idea about Jack and Joan. Can they reach an understanding? Will everything work out okay for the Butler family? You’ll have to watch the movie to find out.
Overall, Mr. Mom is an entertaining, family movie that certainly has laugh-out-loud moments. It’s Michael Keaton’s first movie as the top-billed actor, and he gives an excellent performance. The cast, including Teri Garr, Christopher Lloyd, Martin Mull, and Jeffrey Tambor is outstanding. Despite being a comedy, the movie carries a lot of emotional weight; however, the serious scenes never stray too far from the movie’s overall comedic tone. The jokes and gags don’t feel dated and are still funny and relatable. Mr. Mom may have premiered 34 years ago, but the movie is still entertaining today.
Special Features
• (New) “A Look Back At Mr. Mom With Producer Lauren Shuler Donner And Co-Stars Ann Jillian, Miriam Flynn, Frederick Koehler And Taliesin Jaffe”
• Original Theatrical Trailer
While this release doesn’t come with a lot of special features (it’s hard to count a trailer as a special feature), the “Look Back” featurette does a nice job of looking behind-the-scenes at how the movie was made. Given that this is a collector’s edition, though, more special features would have been nice to see.
Blu-Ray Quality
I wasn’t expecting much from the Blu-Ray quality given the movie’s age; however, the transfer works well. It’s sharper and features more definition. The movie’s lack of special effects probably helped the transfer to be as smooth as possible.
Takeaway
Mr. Mom is a fun, light-hearted movie that offers something for every family member. It’s entertaining, and the cast is phenomenal. This re-release from Shout Select may not have a lot of special features, but the movie itself helps to make up for that. If you haven’t seen this one yet, you really should.
