There are numerous dumb things about this movie. First of all are the dumb bumbling crooks, which were in numerous 1990s movies. The idiot bad guys, by Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern, were semi amusing in "Home Alone" 1990, but then directors decided to start using the idiot crooks style characters in countless other 90s movies including "Houseguest", "The jerky boys", "Cop and a half", etc., and here in "Getting even with Dad". Macculy Culkan stars again, like in "Home Alone", as the smart alec kid who outsmarts the crooks, which is also something which quickly grew tiresome.
Macculy here decides he wants to blackmail his Dad (Ted Danson) and idiot crook croneys over a bag of valuable coins worth millions, that Danson and his croneys highjacked from a couple of armoured car men. Mac is upset over not seeing his dad for years, who had been in prison, and is upset over finding out what his dad is really up to. So Mac decides to take the coins and hide them from the 3 men and will only tell them where it is if his dad starts taking him sightseeing around San Francisco, which is not ok. First of all, a kid should understand things such as maybe the dad not being able to afford to suddenly take him sightseeing, understanding that his dad needs to go to work some of the time, etc. And the kid taking something valuable and stolen and deciding on his own terms what to do with it such as what he did here, I'm not even sure is legal even though he threatened dad to eventually go to the cops if he didn't do what he wanted. This all took part in helping to make this look like an inept movie.
Mac had been living with Danson's sister (his aunt) and her new jerk*** husband, even though it seems somewhat understandable his feelings towards the kid if he acted the same way with them as he did with his dad. But like the idiot crooks, the husband was another unlikable character in this movie, even though Mac has an unacceptable level of entitlement here. Mac should've contacted his aunt and tell her what's really going on with her ex-con brother. I'm not totally sure what a kid should do if finding out that his dad is engaging in criminal activity, but I'm sure that it's not to do what Mac did here with his hiding the coins/blackmailing/sightseeing game.
So Danson, along with his croneys, take the smart alec black mailing kid to the science museum, the San Francisco aquarium, the baseball game, the amusement park, and miniature golfing. Glen Hadley, a police detective (and not a believable one), and her captain (Hector Elonzo, playing the same type of tempermental captain seen in many other movies) start suspecting Danson and his croneys as being behind the coin robbery. So Hadley begins tailing the 3 guys and Mac, and follows them everywhere they go watching them. Eventually, Hadley begins conversing with Mac and Danson, after Mac almost gets hit by a bus while chasing a basketball. Neither of them know that she's a cop and has been following them, even though us viewers could clearly see her in every previous location the guys went (aquarium, stadium, fun park, etc.). The guys don't recognize her and just focus on wanting to ask her out. So Mac decides to be a little smooth talker (after a little advice on the basketball court) and he asks Hadley out for Dad. She's soon joining them for dinner, and Hadley and Danson even kiss. I guess that we're supposed to be charmed by all this, but to me it just didn't quite make those scenes charming. I felt a little bit more like Hadley's partner questioning why she's suddenly dating and kissing the possible suspects that they were only supposed to follow and watch. I've however liked Glen Hadley in other movies (movies I like better than this one) such as in "Dirty rotten scoundrels" and "Mr. Holland's opus", but she was just too sweet and sensitive natured and soft talking to be believable as a cop.
Anyway, yes, this is far from my favorite movie, but I did like a couple of bits such as the main characters learning that a squid is a septapod and not a fish, Dad showing Mac how to eat clams at an Italian restaurant, and Danson showing signs towards the latter part of the movie that he did have more decent underlying qualities and was ready to show them and ditch his not-so-good old self.
Macculy here decides he wants to blackmail his Dad (Ted Danson) and idiot crook croneys over a bag of valuable coins worth millions, that Danson and his croneys highjacked from a couple of armoured car men. Mac is upset over not seeing his dad for years, who had been in prison, and is upset over finding out what his dad is really up to. So Mac decides to take the coins and hide them from the 3 men and will only tell them where it is if his dad starts taking him sightseeing around San Francisco, which is not ok. First of all, a kid should understand things such as maybe the dad not being able to afford to suddenly take him sightseeing, understanding that his dad needs to go to work some of the time, etc. And the kid taking something valuable and stolen and deciding on his own terms what to do with it such as what he did here, I'm not even sure is legal even though he threatened dad to eventually go to the cops if he didn't do what he wanted. This all took part in helping to make this look like an inept movie.
Mac had been living with Danson's sister (his aunt) and her new jerk*** husband, even though it seems somewhat understandable his feelings towards the kid if he acted the same way with them as he did with his dad. But like the idiot crooks, the husband was another unlikable character in this movie, even though Mac has an unacceptable level of entitlement here. Mac should've contacted his aunt and tell her what's really going on with her ex-con brother. I'm not totally sure what a kid should do if finding out that his dad is engaging in criminal activity, but I'm sure that it's not to do what Mac did here with his hiding the coins/blackmailing/sightseeing game.
So Danson, along with his croneys, take the smart alec black mailing kid to the science museum, the San Francisco aquarium, the baseball game, the amusement park, and miniature golfing. Glen Hadley, a police detective (and not a believable one), and her captain (Hector Elonzo, playing the same type of tempermental captain seen in many other movies) start suspecting Danson and his croneys as being behind the coin robbery. So Hadley begins tailing the 3 guys and Mac, and follows them everywhere they go watching them. Eventually, Hadley begins conversing with Mac and Danson, after Mac almost gets hit by a bus while chasing a basketball. Neither of them know that she's a cop and has been following them, even though us viewers could clearly see her in every previous location the guys went (aquarium, stadium, fun park, etc.). The guys don't recognize her and just focus on wanting to ask her out. So Mac decides to be a little smooth talker (after a little advice on the basketball court) and he asks Hadley out for Dad. She's soon joining them for dinner, and Hadley and Danson even kiss. I guess that we're supposed to be charmed by all this, but to me it just didn't quite make those scenes charming. I felt a little bit more like Hadley's partner questioning why she's suddenly dating and kissing the possible suspects that they were only supposed to follow and watch. I've however liked Glen Hadley in other movies (movies I like better than this one) such as in "Dirty rotten scoundrels" and "Mr. Holland's opus", but she was just too sweet and sensitive natured and soft talking to be believable as a cop.
Anyway, yes, this is far from my favorite movie, but I did like a couple of bits such as the main characters learning that a squid is a septapod and not a fish, Dad showing Mac how to eat clams at an Italian restaurant, and Danson showing signs towards the latter part of the movie that he did have more decent underlying qualities and was ready to show them and ditch his not-so-good old self.