Relationship Roulette
"Fathers and Sons" features 3 stories each which focus on the relationship between a father and their son. These stories are tentively linked as each of the families involved live on the same road and so there is some cross over due to friendships but not a lot. The first story sees a father who is controlling struggling to bond with his son as he grows up, almost always seeming to be at odds as he wants to have that close relationship but can't. The second storyline involves a cheating father who can't comprehend his gay son's lifestyle. And then we have a dying father who is paid a visit by his estranged, successful son only to realise that success instead of closeness is not success.
Let me get to the main thing I can tell you about "Fathers and Sons", it is hit n miss because by nature it is unlikely that you will be able to connect with all three stories. As such for me the first story which sees Bradley Whitford as Anthony, a father desperate to do everything right from capturing all the memories on camera to having a close friendship with his son sees him only end up frustrated as he ends up too controlling. Yet there is a real beauty to this as without giving too much away the story comes full circle and Anthony gets to realise some thing about his relationship to his son which he never knew when he was tied up trying to be dad.
The thing is that the other storylines all have their positives and they have this insightful nature especially when it comes to John Mahoney's performance as Gene, the cheating father to a son who is gay as Mahoney delivers that mix of awkwardness around his son and his friends yet admiration for a son who embraces love. I do have to say that Ron Eldard's performance as his gay son seemed a bit too caricature like but they work the troubled relationship nicely.
What this all boils down to is that "Fathers and Sons" is a good movie, and one which has some great moments of insight when it comes to the complexity of father son relationships. But it is due to it featuring different relationship storylines, which are separate entities that you are likely to connect with only parts of the movie rather than all of it.
