Daddy and Them is a movie I had been interested in seeing for awhile now. Written and directed by Billy Bob Thornton, it was the final appearance of Jim Varney, one of my childhood favorites, in a small and all too rare dramatic role. I finally got around to checking it out thanks to Netflix.
It is a character driven story about a family that just doesn't communicate or connect in any meaningful way. It has elements of the Southern aesthetic that were used so well in Thornton'sSling Blade but this is a different kind of movie. It's more rooted in dark humor (although Sling Blade definitely had a humor to it as well).
The characters are interesting but I felt the two leads (Thornton and Laura Dern) were the least likable of the lot. They spend most of their time flinging accusations at each other. But it serves its purpose so we can see that they have hopefully grown by the end of the movie. The main characters are members of a dysfunctional family that some might call white-trash. Others might call it their own family. Andy Griffith does a good job as the "Daddy" of Daddy and Them. He always seem on the verge of total senility. And I liked John Prine as Alvin, the brother with his nose in a book. When Alvin finally speaks his mind, Andy Griffith gets one of the best lines of the movie.
This wasn't as good as Sling Blade. It may not be fair to compare the two, but they are both stories about flawed Southern characters interacting in a backdrop of broken family dynamics written and directed by the same filmmaker. So I feel there can be many comparisons made between them. Having said that, don't expect it to be the same tone as Sling Blade. With all of their similarities, they are still very different movies.
I would like Billy Bob Thornton to direct more movies because Sling Blade was great and Daddy and Them had the potential to be as great but was hampered by a less interesting story and a few scenes that felt forced. Particularly, a scene towards the end that sees Claude and Ruby in the back of a pickup truck felt like it was "the dramatic scene that will hammer home the themes of the movie." That's what it was, but it didn't feel like a natural direction for the movie.
It is always nice to see Jim Varney get a chance to show that he could do more than just Ernest. He doesn't get enough credit for his range of characters and voices. There is a deleted scene on the dvd where he gets to shout and yell and get emotional. It's unfortunate that it didn't make the final cut.
Daddy and Them gives a glimpse into a messed up family that will either remind folks of their own dysfunctional relations or make them grateful for the family they have that isn't being represented onscreen. And I just want to point out how misleading the tag-line on the poster is for this movie. It conjures thoughts of some light-hearted sexy comedy which is way off the mark.
Today's arbitrary rating says that Daddy and Them gets 17 family therapy sessions out of 24 and a half.
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