The whole premise had me scratching my head. Corporate executives do not go to prison due to liability on their products even if they deliberately produce a product that will harm people. Ford Motor company proved that with their exploding Pinto. So now Kevin Spacey spends 8 years in prison and his family never comes to see him? Once you get past that...and I never really did, we end up with a movie that has some good scenes connected by a bad plot.I didn't like Heather Graham defining herself as a lesbian to strangers. That was so unreal and not funny. The negative relationships and feelings that were rampant against Kevin Spacey, was not believable. Kevin played a guy whose only fault was that he enjoyed his work. If you want a somewhat feel good comedy without f-bombs, sex, or nudity this one might fill in...but don't think too hard about it.

Wow, all the negative reviews on here babbling on and on about 'direction' and 'script' and so on, from a bunch of armchair quarterback directors. Most of these people have no background in film, for sure. It's not an easy thing to make a movie but certainly is easy to watch it in your living room and then look up a glossary of movie terms so you can slay it in the reviews. I like this film. It's not an epic, but it's not supposed to be. Good performances all around. A little humor and something to think about. Decently paced. I enjoyed it. Kevin Spacey is, as always, really good. Virginia Madsen, as always, was really good. The rest of the cast also did a great job.

Much of the film drags along until released prisoner, Kevin Spacey, who went off to jail for 8 years for an invention that maimed people, begins to affect the lives of his estranged daughter and her friends with whom he has gone to live with.Spacey is destined to be a failure at anything despite his creativeness because of the fact that he is so wound up with his inventive nature, he neglects everyone and everything else. This has been a time honored theme in films, but as stated, the film just plods along until the realization aspect comes about.Often comic and touching at times, better writing was needed for mid-film.

If you find yourself coming to IMDb for a sneak peek at your next movie outing, please remember this rule: reviewers who vote a film 8* or more, if they have only one, or two at the most, reviews posted .. are probably what the industry calls "sponsored reviewers" or, in layman's terms, "professional bullsh**ers".Unfortunately Father of Invention is one of those titles that the parent studio feels needs sponsored reviews, as you can see for yourself if you browse the few reviews here on IMDb (just click on the Author's name in the review); the film isn't terrible, but apart from Kevin Spacey doing his best, there really isn't much of a story to keep it afloat.Rober "Bob" Axel has just come out of jail for marketing a faulty product (whait, what? do corporation chairmen go to jail for that? this film must be set in a parallel universe where criminal charges apply differently than real-life US), and he has to start again from the bottom rung of society, trying to rebuild all he lost, including his family, car, friends, and all that upper-crust stuff. He fails. That's about it for a pretty mediocre film, with a very diminutive script, truly awful supporting characters, middle of the road acting, and lacklustre direction; Spacey is good, but the constraints of a unimaginative ..everything .. leave him no space to shine.Avoid this film if you can, there are too many boring and inconsequential filler scenes in it to make this an easy sit-through, even with friends. Instead, do go see something else out this week, like Soldier Spy, Machinegun Preacher, 50/50, 1911, Heavy Times, or the superb Drive. Anything really, but not this. Or Melancholia.Final vote, 4/10. Pretty bad.