This movie is a mess. The plot veers around from lame comedy to drama to adulterousness back to cartoonish slapstick. I expected something along the lines of 3 Men and Baby with lots of "men can't handle being a parent" gags. This one is focused almost entirely on the parents (Keaton and Garr), with the kids being peripheral to the story.The blatant product placements became annoying (Lite Beer anyone?) About half way through, one of my family members said what turned out to be what we were all thinking, "This is really bad!"

This movie starts off with a traditional family setup until engineer Jack (Michael Keaton) gets laid off by the car company. Before he could get another job, his wife Caroline (Teri Garr) gets hired by Ron (Martin Mull) for an ad job.This is definitely one of those comedies that suffers from the passing of time. That era is gone especially for the dad side. It's really superficially silly now especially the home and grocery stuff at the beginning. It was probably a little silly back then as well. The mom side of the movie is still good. As he gets more into housewife mode, it gets more realistic. The movie's heart is always in the right place. John Hughes is able to write a very nice light hearted family movie for his first big hit.

First of all, this is a very, very 80's comedy. You can see that by the fact that it stars Teri Garr and a Michael Keaton who looks like he's just graduated from high school. From the opening musical score throughout the rest of the movie, this is the 80's. In the stereotype of the husband who's incapable of taking care of the house and the kids (and, for that matter, of the "house-spouse" who spends most of the time watching soap operas) this is the 80's. Now, that isn't a criticism. It would be rather silly to criticize a movie made in the 80's for being an 80's movie. Of course it's an 80's movie. It's just that this doesn't age all that well. Some movies manage to break out of their era and remain fresh and relevant for decades. This one doesn't.Mr. Mom could be forgiven for its somewhat dated feel if it was funnier. But I really didn't find it to be particularly funny. It has a few moments here and there, but overall I didn't get a whole lot of enjoyment out of this, and too much of the humour was just standard stuff - like dad overloading the washing machine and then putting too much soap in it, or dad heating up the kid's food with a hot iron. Seen it. Many times. In fact, back in the 80's it had been seen many times.Keaton and Garr are both very likable actors. They tried hard - he as the suddenly out of work executive who takes on the role of the house- husband, and she as the newly into the workforce, climbing the corporate ladder ad exec. I didn't really sense much chemistry between them - but they both tried hard. The movie just wasn't that great. (2/10)

I remember this one from my youth, before Keaton blew up in Batman and Beetlejuice, he was big in Mr. Mom, and Gung Ho. Mr. Mom as a comedy to me had a very unique and warm touch to it because while it both captured a new (at that time) slapstick style of family comedy, it also showed a more human, less refined side to the world of parenting. As a young boy, I could see just how difficult it could be for a man to grasp taking over the role of a mom. I think it helped that the movie trailer at the time perfectly illustrated Keaton's character's dillemna, in addition to the obvious film title. Quick scenes with total chaos erupting involving household mishaps, astray children etc. Perhaps an even greater bit for me is how the filmmakers portrayed the quirks of suburban life the way it felt then. It doesn't offer any commentary on the way things are, but injects so many funny little scenarios into the plot that could only take place in the suburbs. For me, there is no question that this work has more depth than say, Vacation. Vacation for me was awkward to watch, because it seemed to constantly excuse bad behavior as being funny. In Mr. Mom, the plot relies more on the complex world that Keaton finds himself in, as does his wife. It is funny not only because of the slapstick comedy, but because it makes life seem quite bizarre when the gender roles are reversed.