Movie review: ‘Man of the House’ (1995)

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I have reviewed a kid-friendly film (“First Kid” – click here for my review) and while writing it, I recalled today’s effort: “Man of House.” No, not 2005’s “Man of the House” with Tommy Lee Jones, this “Man of the House” was a decade earlier and, like “First Kid,” is a Disney film. “Man of the House” is better than “First Kid” and you might like it better if you have a choice. In any case, kid-friendly films don’t have to be total stinkers … and while this one has cringe-worthy moments, it is endearing and you’ll enjoy it!

‘Man of the House’
(1995; 86 minutes; rated PG; directed by James Orr and starring Chevy Chase, Farrah Fawcett and Jonathan Taylor Thomas)

TRYING TO MANAGE HIS MOM’S BOYFRIEND

(NOTE: I expanded this review with additional opinion and trivia and the updating of links on Aug. 29, 2020.)

Films such as “Man of the House” show that you can have an intelligent movie without resorting to saturation f-bombing or adult themes. “Man of the House,” which you shouldn’t confuse with Tommy Lee Jones’ film of the same name, has a solid story and the obligatory happy ending and is fun to watch, especially the three headliners.

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OK, “Man of the House” has schlock and camp and is quite predictable. It also has scenes that I’m sure the actors still avert their eyes when it is shown. However, those criticisms don’t jump to the fore because the movie is endearing and elevated by its stars.

Don’t dismiss this one just because it is a Disney film and therefore has too many stereotypes. Give it a chance (if you can find it since it is a rare option on cable channels). Critics gashed it at the time, but what did they know?

In “Man of the House,” you’ll find Farrah Fawcett as “Sandy Archer” and Jonathan Taylor Thomas as “Benjamin Archer” living a nice life as a divorced mom and her son. They have a great relationship, but Thomas is hit with angst when mom’s boyfriend (Chevy Chase as “Jack Sturgess,” who is a federal prosecutor) is moving in. You know what’s coming …

… as Thomas sets out to sabotage Chase and so ensues the hilarity.

Thomas uses a youth group called the “Indian Guides” as a way to run Chase’s goodwill through the wringer (there’s a funny scene where a group activity with “war paint” left its mark on his face and causes trouble when he argues a case involving Native Americans in court the next day).

The film stretches out with Thomas working on his sabotage, while Chase must deal with mobsters. They’re angry since Chase put their boss behind bars and now they’re coming after him.

The film’s climax is on a campy camping trip where the Indian Guides defeat the Mafia (OK, it’s a kid film and therefore those smarmy scenes are necessary) and Thomas and Chase finally bond. It ends up with a wedding and everyone lives happily ever after. Normally, I’d sigh at this point … but the film actually works well at the end.

Remember, it’s a Disney movie, but, for the audience, it’s coin-of-the-realm in making a family movie. Yes, it does work!

Now, let me take a look at the primary cast …

  • Thomas, who was on the top TV sitcom “Home Improvement” at the time, does a really solid job here. He conveys the right emotions at the proper level and is at his affable best (especially where he gives Chase an Indian Guide nickname of “Squatting Dog”). Thomas voiced in “The Lion King” and was in “Wild America” and his career has been somewhat on hold since 2005. He does a much better job here with a much bigger role than fellow “Home Improvement” cast member Zachery Ty Bryan did in “First Kid” (click here for my review) the next year. Most recently he’s been on former “Home Improvement” star Tim Allen’s TV series “Last Man Standing.”
  • A two-time Golden Globe nominee (not for this one), Chase is good here by keeping his comedy from going over the top. He doesn’t do as good a job as he did in “Foul Play” that earned him his nominations (click here for my review) or “Seems Like Old Times” (click here for my review), which are both crime comedy-dramas, but it’s difficult to compare the trio. Chase has also been in “Caddyshack” and, of course, the “Vacation” franchise with his best being “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.” Chase’s career was kicked into overdrive by “SNL,” for which he was a three-time winner and two-time nominee for Primetime Emmy awards. Of course, you’ll probably wonder (as he most likely does) why he ever agreed to do “Dirty Work” with Norm Macdonald (click here for my review), much less the execrable sequel “Caddyshack II” (click here for my review).
  • A six-time Golden Globe nominee (not for this one), Fawcett’s work could have been both better and bigger. Fawcett does a good job as the artistic single mother who has found a new love, but she just doesn’t have the talent or screen time to elevate the role beyond its stereotype. Fawcett, who died of cancer at 62 in 2009, is most famous for TV’s “Charlie’s Angels” (one nomination) and has worked on films such as “The Cannonball Run” (click here for my review) and “Logan’s Run.” She was also nominated for TV’s groundbreaking “The Burning Bed” in 1984 and the TV movie “Small Sacrifices.”

The Indian Guides’ fathers and sons are an interesting lot and provide depth in the supporting acting segment. They include:

  • A six-time Emmy nominee (all for “Cheers”), George Wendt, who is famous as “Norm Peterson” from that TV series, is “Chet Bronski” and he’s especially good in the supporting cast as the sympathetic stepfather who helps Chase deal with Thomas’ meddling. Wendt has a way of developing characters to his own demeanor and he’s very good at that here and his best scene with Chase is at his classroom – he’s a shop teacher – where he clues Chase in on how to handle all the struggles with Thomas. Wendt was also in “Fletch” with Chase (click here for my review).
  • Art LaFleur plays “Red Sweeny” and is the group’s strict champion of the rules in the Guides’ handbook. LaFleur is good here with his craggy, solemn looks and countenance. LaFleur had a similarly strict countenance in “First Kid” and was also in the iconic baseball flick “Field of Dreams” and he was in “Cobra” with Sylvester Stallone.
  • David Shiner plays “Lloyd Small,” who is a circus performer and mimes everything. He’s good with his silent treatment and is just as funny as anyone here who speaks. I would have enjoyed it if he had more screen time. Shiner has also been in “Lorenzo’s Oil” in a brief career.
  • Chief Leonard George portrays “Leonard Red Crow” and is both Chase’s courtroom adversary in a case involving Native Americans as well as winding up teaching the boys about his culture. He does a good job, but, like others, doesn’t really have much to work with. I’m glad that he did get the time on screen that he did. Chief Leonard George’s first credit was in 1970 in Arthur Penn’s “Little Big Man” with Dustin Hoffman and Faye Dunaway and, like most actors, did the awful, too, with “Chilly Dogs.” He died at 71 in 2017.

I’m not going to take time to mention any of the youngsters who play the kids here. They just don’t elevate the film, but none drag it down, either.

On the bad guys’ side, well, there isn’t much to review.

Whew! Their characters and acting are wooden, predictable and the director could have boosted Fawcett’s character by shaving off some of their screen time in favor of her better ability to relate to the audience. Too bad that didn’t happen.

Although the camping trip is just terrible in terms of filmmaking, it serves as a climax and lead-in to the closing wedding scene.

The camping trip is pretty much a cinematic embarrassment, with a criminal in full dress clothes and shoulder holsters using his hands to fish in a stream; and the bad guys using dynamite to try and eliminate Chase and Thomas. You might as well have cued “The Three Stooges” or a Warner Brothers cartoon.

Finally, the zip-line scene where LaFleur takes out a mobster is just downright silly. I’m not sure anything could have been done different and I’m not sure it mattered anyway. The audience needed to get to this point … and so the filmmakers delivered it … albeit in a junky way.

“Man of the House” was the 41st ranked film at the U.S. box office in 1995 with $40 million in receipts, according to Box Office Mojo. It was a winner for Disney because it was made on a budget of $22 million. As a film it is the polar opposite of the 40th ranked film “Casino” ($42.5 million). Other family-friendly films that year included the No. 1 “Toy Story” ($191.7 million); No. 7 “Jumanji” ($100.4 million – click here for my review); and No. 8 “Casper” ($100.3 million). The other films from 1995 that I’ve reviewed are:

Assorted cast notes (via IMDb.com):

  • “Man of the House” was the only film starring Chase to open at No. 1 in the 1990s.
  • Tim Allen, the star of the TV show that gave Thomas his stature to get this film, was considered for the role ultimately played by Chase. I certainly enjoy Allen’s work (just try “Big Trouble” – click here for my review), but he wouldn’t have been right for this character.
  • Ryan O’Neal, who was Fawcett’s partner at the time (they have a son together), played the kite-flying man wooing Fawcett at the beginning of the film. It was an uncredited role and, of course, he was in “Love Story” and “Paper Moon.”
  • Chase’s birth name is Cornelius Crane Chase.
  • Finally and directly from IMDb.com: “Star Farrah Fawcett and director James Orr were (once) in a relationship. On January 28, 1998, Orr was convicted of misdemeanor battery after attacking Fawcett for supposedly refusing his marriage proposal.”

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