| Old Dogs | |
| Director: | Walt Becker |
| Producer: | Andrew Panay Robert L. Levy Peter Abrams |
| Starring: | John Travolta Robin Williams Kelly Preston Seth Green Ella Bleu Travolta Lori Loughlin Matt Dillon |
| Music: | John Debney |
| Cinematography: | Jeffrey L. Kimball |
| Editing: | Tom Lewis Ryan Folsey |
| Studio: | Walt Disney Pictures Tapestry Films |
| Distributor: | Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures |
| Runtime: | 88 minutes |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Budget: | $35 million |
| Gross: | $96.8 million[1] |
Old Dogs is a 2009 American comedy film directed by Walt Becker and starring Robin Williams and John Travolta, with an ensemble supporting cast that includes Kelly Preston, Matt Dillon, Justin Long, Seth Green, Rita Wilson, Dax Shepard, Lori Loughlin and Bernie Mac. It was released in theaters on November 25, 2009, and on DVD on March 9, 2010.
The film is dedicated to both Mac (who died in 2008 after this, his final film role) and Jett Travolta (John Travolta and Kelly Preston's son who died in 2009). The film was panned by critics, but it grossed $96.8 million worldwide on a $35 million budget.[1] At the 30th Golden Raspberry Awards ceremony, Old Dogs was nominated in four categories: Worst Picture, Worst Actor (for John Travolta), Worst Supporting Actress (for Kelly Preston) and Worst Director (for Walt Becker).
Canadian musician Bryan Adams wrote the theme song for the film, "You've Been a Friend to Me".
Dan Rayburn and Charlie Reed are best friends and co-owners of a successful sports marketing firm. Seven years prior, Dan, recently divorced, married Vicki after being whisked away by Charlie for a tropical vacation. The marriage, however, is short-lived. Seven years later, Vicki resurfaces to tell him that their brief marriage resulted in something he never suspected: twins Zach and Emily.
Vicki is scheduled to serve two weeks jail time for her work as an environmental activist, and her friend Jenna is hospitalized from a freak accident, so she asks Dan to take care of the kids while incarcerated. Thinking that this may be his chance to get back with Vicki, Dan agrees, but only if Charlie helps him, for neither have any experience with taking care of kids. At the same time, they must finalize a huge marketing deal with a Japanese company, something they have always desired, but it will take all of their talents to clinch.
Because Dan's condo does not allow children, they have to board with Charlie. Charlie and Dan's attempts to take care of the kids are well-intentioned but awkward. On a trip with the kids to an overnight camp, a hard-nosed camp instructor becomes convinced that Dan and Charlie are homosexual partners. The trip ends after Dan accidentally sets fire to a beloved statue of the camp's founder.
The kids proceed to spill and replace Charlie and Dan's prescriptions, mixing them up in the process. Dan must play a game of golf with the Japanese executives while experiencing extreme side effects, and Charlie tries to woo Amanda with a face frozen by the pills.
Desperate to help Dan communicate with the children despite his inexperience with them, Charlie recruits his friend Jimmy Lunchbox, a famous, flamboyant children's entertainer. Jimmy arrives and straps Dan and Charlie in motion-controlled puppet suits so that Charlie can help Dan make the right moves with his daughter while having a tea party.
The suits malfunction, but Dan speaks from the heart, winning over Emily and making Jimmy emotional. Everything is great with Vicki as she returns home after serving her time. However, the guys have sealed their Japanese deal, sending junior associate Craig to Tokyo. When he goes missing after his arrival, Charlie and Dan must fly to Tokyo to take his place. Dan must leave the kids and Vicki despite his and their desire to be a family.
In Tokyo, Dan realizes that what he really wants is to be a good father. He leaves the meeting without sealing the deal, angering Charlie. They make up and rush with Craig, who has returned from Tokyo, to Vermont for the kids' birthday party. However, they do not get into the Burlington Zoo in time and are forced to break in. However, they mistakenly end up in the gorilla enclosure, in which they encounter an angry one. Although Dan and Charlie escape and are attacked by penguins, Craig is captured by the gorilla, which takes a strong liking to him while he sings "All Out of Love".
Dan pays a birthday party performer hired by Vicki for the use of his jet pack and suit. He flies into the ceremony and wins over his kids again. When the jet pack stops working in mid-air, he falls into a lake and is taken to an ambulance on a stretcher. One year later, Dan and Vicki are together, Charlie has married Amanda, and Craig has become a new "uncle" to the kids.
The following performed the puppets in Jimmy Lunchbox's show and are credited as "Muppets":
Old Dogs was panned by critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a rating of 5%, based on 112 reviews, with an average rating of 2.70/10. The site's consensus reads: "Its cast tries hard, but Old Dogs is a predictable, nearly witless attempt at physical comedy and moral uplift that misses the mark on both counts."[2] The film was ranked number three on their list of the ten most moldy films of 2009.[3] At Metacritic, Old Dogs received an aggregated rating of 19 out of 100, based on 22 reviews, indicating "overwhelming dislike".[4] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average rating of "B+" on a scale of A+ to F.[5]
Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert gave Old Dogs a rating of one star out of a possible four.[6] Ebert opened his review by commenting, "Old Dogs is stupefying [sic] dimwitted. What were John Travolta and Robin Williams thinking of? Apparently their agents weren't perceptive enough to smell the screenplay in its advanced state of decomposition."
The Salt Lake Tribune gave Old Dogs a rating of zero stars out of a possible four, and criticized the film for "hammy acting and sledgehammer editing".[7]
Roger Moore of The Orlando Sentinel gave Old Dogs a rating of one and a half stars out of a possible four.[8] "Trashing Old Dogs is a bit like kicking a puppy. But here goes. The new comedy from some of the folks who brought us Wild Hogs is badly written and broadly acted, shamelessly manipulative and not above stopping by the toilet for a laugh or two," wrote Moore.
Bill Goodykoontz of The Star Press gave the film a critical review and commented, "Old Dogs, which stars Robin Williams and John Travolta as a couple of aging bachelors who suddenly have twins thrust upon them, delivers everything you’d expect. Which is: not much."[9] He concluded his review with, "Let’s hope Williams, Travolta and the rest got a fabulous payday for Old Dogs. Because otherwise, you know, woof." In a review for The Arizona Republic, Goodykoontz gave the film a rating of one and a half stars out of a possible five.[10]
Writing for the San Jose Mercury News in an analysis of movies that were released around Thanksgiving, Randy Myers placed Old Dogs below "The Scraps: Leftovers that should be immediately placed in Fido's bowl". Myers commented, "We have a winner in the Thanksgiving movie turkey contest."[11]
Dennis Harvey of Variety wrote, "Too bad this shrilly tuned comedy doesn't demand more than clock-punching effort from everyone involved."[12]
Tim Robey of The Telegraph savaged the film, saying, "Old Dogs is so singularly dreadful it halts time, folds space and plays havoc with the very notion of the self."[13] He added to the review, "Being a film critic is a wonderful job, but there are weeks when the bad film delirium strikes and we’d all be better off in straitjackets. A colleague opined to me the other day that this might be the deadliest run of releases in his 20-year history on the job, and I can completely see that." He also said, "You'd have to hate your family to take them to this!" He gave the film zero stars.
Writing for The Philadelphia Inquirer, Carrie Rickey gave the film a rating of two and a half stars out of four.[14] Rickey commented of the multiple cameos in the film, "A child of 5 can see that these brief appearances serve to pad a gauze-thin script." The review concluded, "Old Dogs may not be good. But the sight of pesky penguins pecking Travolta and Green in the embrace of an unlikely partner makes it just good enough."
Pete Hammond of Boxoffice gave the film 3 out of 5 stars, and concluded, "Old Dogs may not reach the box office heights of Wild Hogs but its fun family friendly attitude should guarantee a healthy holiday haul."[15]
In its first day, Old Dogs opened in fifth place, with a take of $3.1 million.[16] It was beaten in first-day box-office results by New Moon, The Blind Side, 2012 and Ninja Assassin.[17] The film came in fourth in its second day with $4.1 million, for a two-day pickup of $7.2 million.[18] The film remained in fourth place for its third day, with a box-office take of $6.8 million.[19] Overall, the film grossed $96,753,696 worldwide on a budget of $35,000,000.[20]
The movie was also a moderate success on DVD, gaining more than $20,000,000 domestically during its first two months of release.[21]