Starring Robin Williams and John Travolta, Old Dogs is a story
about two advertising executives who have made it big in the world of
advertising but have sacrificed starting a family. These two best
friends are a little like the Old Couple but funny enough, their
friendship have survived, even though Charlie (John Travolta) generally uses
Dan (Robin Williams) as the bud of all jokes.
During a presentation to a
group of Japanese executives, Charlie tells the story of how Dan got
divorced and in order to get his friend back on track, he took him away
for a holiday. Through a wild night of alcohol and hysterics, Dan
unwittingly marries Vicki (Kelly Preston).
Seven years later and Dan has
started correspondence with Vicki and then Vicki plants a doosey on him
when they meet up several years later. During their fling we discover
that Vicki became pregnant and had twins and as Dan is
introduced to his two new children, he soon discovers that Vicki is about
to go to prison for 2-weeks as an environmental protestor.
Unfortunately, Vicki's friend, a hand model was supposedly to look after
her children but is inadvertently injured by Dan when he accidentally
slams her hands in the car boot. Now it's up to Dan to man up and
because Charlie got him in this predicament, these two long time bachelors
must now look after the children. <insert
Hollywood comedy clichés here>
Believing that two grown men can look after the twins proves more
difficult than it is, especially when they are trying to secure a
multimillion dollar contract with a Japanese company.
With a variety of
over the top situations for comedic relief, strangely enough it actually
works as Williams and Travolta are a treat to watch, especially Travolta
who really lets loose. Williams as a straight man is a little odd which
is probably due to the age difference between him and Travolta but the
writers definitely use this to their advantage with lots of jokes about
grandparents.
My favourite part in the film, besides Charlie’s dogs
incontinence problem is when the kids mix up the pills for these too old
bachelors that causes some hilarious scenes, thanks to some crafty CGI.
The conflict of the movie comes quite late in the movie as these two men
attempt to “father” themselves.
Apart from Williams and Travolta,
there’s some great cameos by Matt Dillon and Justin long as red neck
scouts and the late and great Bernie Mac who plays a music producer. A special mention should also
be made for Seth Green
who has a few scene stealing scenes, especially when he is in the arms
of a gorilla, singing I’m all out Love.
Of course not all scenes are
amusing and some are down right embarrassing like when Dan is connected
to a puppeteer suit that was just embarrassing. I even cringed and felt
myself going red! Even so, Old Guys is
definitely a movie for the entire family and on Blu-ray, the video and
audio is quite exceptional. Add in some interesting special features
from commentary, deleted scenes, bloopers and music videos and Old Dogs
is another decent Disney release.
Check it out for the entire family!
