Dad

Jack Lemmon, buried under turtle-like old-age latex, is Jake Tremont, a borderline senile codger who discovers he has cancer. Jake has a nervous breakdown and cowers under his bed (awful!), then rallies and starts wearing flamboyant clothes. This mawkish trash, based on a William Wharton novel, spells out the importance of mending fences with Dad, which seemed to be a popular subject in late-’80s movies (Field of Dreams, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade). Ted Danson is Jake’s estranged son; Ethan Hawke is Danson’s estranged son. All this estrangement, just waiting to be cured by the old guy’s cancer. Ick. An utterly mechanical tearjerker, the feature debut of TV veteran Gary David Goldberg (Family Ties, Brooklyn Bridge, Spin City); executive-produced by Steven Spielberg.