This is basically a story of trust and building family relationships.When mom, the late Farrah Fawcett brings Chevy Chase in the house to live, obvious problems shall result when her 11 year old son rebels at the prospect of having to share his mother with this man. The situation is not helped by the fact that at the age of 5, the boy saw his father walk out on his mother and wave goodbye.Chase hopes to build this trust by introducing the child to a club of fathers emulating Indian chiefs with their sons. This becomes rather corny at best.Fawcett was given very little to do here and I wonder why she accepted this part.Chase, a prosecuting attorney, incurs the wrath of a mobster's son by putting the father away for 50 years. The son vows vengeance which interferes with Chase trying to establish a relationship with the boy.The last part of the film is inane since the son and his crew plot to do Chase in while the latter is on a camping trip with the boy and others. The attempt at turning this into a home alone type does not work and George Wendt, who portrays a shop teacher and member of the tribe, looks more like Friar Tuck. How the group turns the table on the mobster's son and his group is brief and ridiculous. More could have been made of this in a missed opportunity.

As usual, I'm in the minority.I love this movie. Chevy is so funny as the step dad to Jonathan Taylor Thomas and would-be husband to Farrah Fawcet. I loved Chevy in this. He plays characters completely off the cuff, and I found his character endearing, but what I really liked about this movie was Farrah. She still shines after all those years, in a completely engaging performance.Jonathan Taylor Thomas is perfectly precocious in his role as Fawcett's son, a boy who lost his father, and refuses to accept Chevy as an adequate substitute.It's funny, heartwarming, and genuinely sweet.It rates a 6.7/10 from...the Fiend :.

A mildly amusing, simple film that is good to fill in time. It's just another Disney family movie, with no outstanding features; the script is plain, the acting average and the plot predictable but variable enough to keep your interest."Man of the House" centers around a young boy, Ben, who is unhappy about his single mother bringing home boyfriends. When she plans to marry one, he plots to get rid of the boyfriend so it can be just him and his mother again. This leads to a Boy Scout meets Native Americans type group of fathers and sons where Ben hopes he will be able to drive Jack away.Slight violence and language but no blood and guts. Rent if for the whole family.

There used to be a time when Chevy Chase was regarded to as a funny man. He used to be on an intelligent and extremely hilarious skit show started in 1975 called "Saturday Night Live," but soon left to chase after a film career.Well, it's about twenty years later, and where is Chevy? Well, after a few hilarious "National Lampoon's Vacation" films, he's basically nowhere. He was funny in the seemingly endless line of movies (in general) for a while, but soon people tired of his smart-@$$ attitude that made him so famous, and they, his humble audience, turned on him, beginning to despise the poor fellow. Well, I can't really find it hard to feel sorry for him, because he probably still has more money than you or I will ever make in our lifetime.The plot of "Man of the House" is less than a simple and contrived one. It is about 12-year-old Ben Archer (Jonathan Taylor Thomas) and his efforts to rid his house of the man who wants to marry his mom and become his stepfather. The man? Jack Sturgess (Chevy Chase). The mom? Sandra (Farah Fawcett--whose leakier than a faucet here). Jack is a tie-wearing, U.S. Justice Department lawyer who's got one angry Mafia boss on his tail because of a racketeering case he prosecuted. As the film turns out (big gasp), Ben and Jack work together at the end to save the day, and Ben thinks of Jack as a cool nerd. But what about the in-between process, you ask?Ben makes an assortment of traps to try and get Jack to leave. He rigs the blender. He makes fun of him. He verbally insults him and makes digs at him. I ask myself what Disney is trying to prove here: That kids are smarter than stupid adults, or that kids have wittier one-liners than adults? But Jack stays around (much to the disappointment of Ben), who keeps on working at Jack to make him leave. He eventually makes Jack sign into a boy-scout-type program, where he nicknames Jack "Squatting Dog." This is the best laugh in the movie. If you don't find that funny, like me, then you had better run from this movie, because that is one of many unfunny gags that try to be funny and end up in the gutter.The film is anchored in every way towards children, but I ask myself if children really should be seeing a film like this. In "The Parent Trap," two twins formed together to bring their parents back together. In "Man of the House," a twelve-year-old single-handedly tries to rid a man from his and his mother's life. Choose your pick on which film is morally-harmless and which is morally-harmful. Times are changing, and that means films that were once provocative are not anymore. Divorce in films--especially children's films--used to be a big topic. But nowadays it seems because of the countless divorces out there, kids are immune to such things. But Disney is making it worse. They rub it in and open children's minds to things they need not worry about. If you take your child to see this, the next time you argue with your wife or husband your child could misinterpret this as divorce, because through films like these divorce is shown as arguing between parents who then break up. "Man of the House" isn't about divorce per se, but it is about something worse: The times proceeding a divorce. About parents dating again. Sorry, but I don't find this kind of thing suitable for innocent children. Kids don't need to be thinking about their parents dating people, but yet films manage to squeeze such material into countless films, whether they are funny ("Sleepless in Seattle") or not ("Man of the House"). I don't have a problem with "Sleepless..." because it isn't really a children's film, but when you take a children's film and center it ENTIRELY on split couples dating again, children start to think about things they need not worry about. Six-year-olds shouldn't be thinking about dating yet, much less their parents dating.The laughs, if you can count them as such, come mostly from George Wendt (``Cheers' '' beloved Norm) and former Cirque du Soleil clown David Shiner. Wendt as an Indian Guides chief is the comic treat of the film -- he's a real live wire who packs a lot of heart into a surprisingly agile comic style. If you have read this far and STILL believe this film is for you, then George Wendt's performance can be added to your "why-to-see-the-film" list, because he is, truthfully, the only compelling reason to see this film.In the end, "Man of the House" is a politically-correct comic vehicle that forgot about the script and the laughs. To Disney, kids during times like these should be thinking of parents' divorces and parents' dating, because it's happening around the world as we speak, and children need films such as "Man of the House" so that they realize this is normal (for parents to divorce and date again).To me, films like "Man of the House" are reasons that divorce and single parents dating is becoming more normal and unshameful in today's culture. It's a paradox, really. Films like these are made because of times like these, when, in fact, times like these are here in the first place because of the films and media that are made to suit to the times we live in.1/5 stars -John Ulmer