Parental Guidance Is A Movie That Is Both Hilarious And Touching

Parental Guidance is a movie that is both hilarious and touching.  It is one of the better comedies made in a long time and full of a star studded cast that will keep you in stitches.  This is the story of three children, their parents and grandparents and bridging the generational gap between them.

When Alice and Phil, played by Marisa Tomei and Tom Everett Scott,need to go away for a business mixed with pleasure trip for Phil’s new invention, they find themselves in need of a sitter and their usual choice of Phil’s parents, are not available to help them out.  They don’t have any other option but to call Artie and Diane, played by Billy Crystal and Bette Midler, who are Alice’s parents.  Alice’s relationship with her parents isn’t very close and they parent very differently than Alice and Phil prefer.  Their type of parental guidance is very unique from Artie and Diane’s brand.

When Grandma and Grandpa arrive with their laid back and old school style with children, the laughs begin.  Their grandchildren are all struggling with different areas of their lives.  Harper is a tense child who pushes herself to be perfect with her violin.  Turner deals with bullies at school who pick on him because of his stutter.  Barker is a mischievous child with a vivid imagination evidenced by his imaginary kangaroo friend, Carl.  Grandma and Grandpa give very different advice than Mom and Dad would approve of which leads to conflicts between parents and grandparents.

Tensions come to a full fledged disagreement between parent and child, parent and grandparent and grandparent and child.  Old issues reignite between Alice and her parents and old hurts come to the surface.

But in the end, Alice and Phil discover that Artie and Diane know a thing or two about raising children, after all.  Their parental guidance was helpful, after all.  Rent Parental Guidance tonight.

Image Credit: NBC Bay Area