That's My Boy (2012 film)

Plot

In 1984, in Massachusetts, a teenage Donny Berger develops an infatuation with his middle-school teacher, Mary McGarricle. Initially, Mary appears repulsed by Donny's flirtations and punishes him with a month of detention. However, during this detention, she unexpectedly seduces Donny, and the two begin a sexual relationship. Their affair is publicly exposed during an auditorium assembly, leading to Mary's arrest and conviction for statutory rape. She receives a 30-year prison sentence, while the scandal inadvertently propels Donny into the spotlight as a child celebrity. When Mary becomes pregnant, custody of their unborn child is awarded to Donny's physically abusive father, with the legal provision that Donny will assume full custody once he reaches adulthood.

Twenty-eight years later, Donny has descended into a life of financial instability and alcoholism. He owes $43,000 in back taxes to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and faces the threat of a three-year prison sentence. In a desperate gamble, he places a $20 bet on an 8000:1 underdog in an upcoming race, hoping for a windfall, while simultaneously devising a contingency plan in case the bet fails. For the past decade, Donny has been estranged from his adult son, who, to escape the stigma of his parents’ scandal, changed his name from Han Solo Berger to Todd Peterson and fabricated a story that his parents had died in an explosion. Todd has since built a successful career as a businessman and is preparing to marry his fiancée, Jamie, at his boss Steve Spirou's Cape Cod estate.

Meanwhile, Randall Morgan, a television producer familiar with Donny's former celebrity, offers him $50,000 to orchestrate a reunion with Todd and Mary. Discovering Todd's wedding plans through a newspaper, Donny travels to Cape Cod uninvited. Todd, unprepared for the encounter, introduces Donny as merely an old friend, feeling irritated by his father's popularity among the wedding guests. Initially reluctant to confront Mary, Todd's stance softens after Donny manipulates the wedding schedule—convincing Jamie's family to relocate the rehearsal away from churches and persuading Todd's friends to hold the bachelor party at a strip club. Reluctantly, Todd agrees to meet Mary in prison, but when a television crew intrudes on the meeting, he departs in disgust without signing a consent form.

The situation becomes more complicated when Donny discovers Jamie's multiple affairs with Steve and her brother Chad. Jamie attempts to cover her indiscretions by paying Donny $50,000 and providing excuses to Todd. Consumed by guilt, Donny interrupts the wedding to reveal the truth, simultaneously disclosing his paternal relationship to Todd. The revelation prompts Todd to break off his engagement, embrace Donny as his father, leave his corporate job, and reclaim his birth name, Han Solo.

In the aftermath, Han begins dating a strip club bartender, Brie, while offering Donny the financial gain from his newly inherited fortune. Donny refuses, choosing instead to take responsibility for his past mistakes. As he prepares to serve his prison sentence and eventually rekindle his relationship with Mary upon release, he discovers that his long-shot bet on the marathon has won $160,000, resolving his IRS debt and allowing him a measure of stability for the first time in decades.

Cast

• Adam Sandler as Donny Berger
  • Justin Weaver as Young Donny
• Andy Samberg as Han Solo Berger/Todd Peterson, Donny and Mary's son
• Leighton Meester as Jamie Martin, Todd's fiancé
• Vanilla Ice as Himself/Uncle Vanny, Donny's best friend
• James Caan as Father McNally
• Milo Ventimiglia as Chad Martin, Jamie's younger brother
• Blake Clark as Gerald, Jamie and Chad's father
• Meagen Fay as Helen, Jamie and Chad's mother
• Tony Orlando as Steve Spirou, Todd's boss
• Will Forte as Phil
• Rachel Dratch as Phil's wife
• Nick Swardson as Kenny
• Peggy Stewart as Grandma Delores, Steve's mother
• Luenell as Champale, a stripper and Brie's mother
• Ciara as Brie, a bartender and Donny's friend, Todd's secondary love interest
• Ana Gasteyer as Mrs. Ravensdale
• Susan Sarandon as Mary McGarricle, Donny's middle school teacher/lover and Todd's mother
  • Eva Amurri Martino as younger Mary McGarricle
• Todd Bridges as himself
• Dan Patrick as Randall Morgan
• Rex Ryan as Jim Nance
• Jackie Sandler as Masseuse
• Erin Andrews as Randall Morgan's receptionist
• Peter Dante as Dante Spirou, Steve's son
• Alan Thicke as TV version Donny's dad
• Ian Ziering as TV version Donny
• Colin Quinn as Strip club DJ
• Baron Davis as Gym coach
• Dennis Dugan as School janitor

Credits adapted from TV Guide.

Production

The film was originally titled I Hate You, Dad, and then changed to Donny's Boy before the producers finally settled on That's My Boy. Filming began on May 2, 2011, and ended on July 15, 2011.

Filming took place in Massachusetts, with studio filming at Columbia Pictures in Culver City, California.

Release

Home media

That's My Boy was released to DVD and Blu-ray on October 16, 2012, by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

Reception

Box office

That's My Boy opened on June 15, 2012, grossing $13,453,714 in its opening weekend, ranking #4 behind the second weekends of Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted and Prometheus, and the opening of Rock of Ages.

The film grossed $36.9 million in the United States and $57.7 million worldwide, failing to recoup its $57–70 million budget, making it a financial failure.

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, That's My Boy has an approval rating of 20% based on 110 reviews and an average rating of 3.80/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "While it does represent a new foray into raunch for the normally PG-13 Sandler, That's My Boy finds him repeating himself to diminishing effect – and dragging Andy Samberg down with him." On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 31 out of 100 based on reviews from 27 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A to F scale.

Film critic Richard Roeper gave the film an F, calling it "an ugly, tasteless, deadly and mean-spirited piece of filmmaking," and would later call it the worst film of 2012. Justin Chang of Variety called it "a shameless celebration of degenerate behavior, a work of relentless vulgarity and staggering moral idiocy." Half in the Bag called the film "pathetic" and "painful", and went on to criticize Sandler as a comic, suggesting he was unable to create humor that was not based on childish jokes.

The film was criticized for making light of statutory rape, incest, and child neglect.

Accolades

Awards

References

References

1. "That's My Boy (2012) - Financial Information".
2. "That's My Boy - Full Cast & Crew".
3. Ngo, Binh. (February 3, 2012). "Adam Sandler's Upcoming Comedy 'Donny's Boy' Changed to 'That's My Boy'". Movies with Butter.
4. Eisenberg, Eric. (January 16, 2011). "Adam Sandler Comedy I Hate You, Dad Retitled Donny's Boy, First Image Arrives Online". Cinema Blend.
5. (March 2, 2012). "Adam Sandler and Andy Samberg's local movie gets a new name and a NSFW trailer". The Boston Globe.
6. "That's My Boy: Releases". [[AllMovie]].
7. {{mojo title. ihateyoudad. That's My Boy
8. Rosen, Christopher. (June 16, 2012). "'That's My Boy' Box Office: Adam Sandler Comedy Bombs, Tom Cruise's 'Rock Of Ages' Disappoints". [[Huffington Post]].
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11. Pamela McClintock. (June 17, 2012). "Box Office Analysis: 'That's My Boy' Marks Second Disappointment in a Row for Adam Sandler". [[The Hollywood Reporter]].
12. "That's My Boy {{!}} RichardRoeper.com".
13. "Worst Movies of 2012 - Richard Roeper's Reviews (1/9/2013)".
14. Chang, Justin. (June 14, 2012). "Review: ''That's My Boy''". [[Variety (magazine).
15. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXXOlXmz6nE Half in the Bag: ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER and THAT'S MY BOY] redlettermedia.com (July 28, 2012). Retrieved on August 26, 2012.
16. Rabin, Nathan. (November 28, 2012). "Stooping To Stumble Case File #29: ''That's My Boy''". [[The A.V. Club]].
17. Patterson, John. (September 1, 2012). "Adam Sandler's ''That's My Boy'' - giving gross-out a bad name". [[The Guardian]].
18. Ablow, Keith. (May 2, 2012). "There's nothing funny about rape and Adam Sandler's new movie 'That's My Boy' | Fox News". FOX News Network, LLC.
19. "2012 Houston Film Critics Nominees - Winners". Texasartfilm.com.
20. "Dawn Breaks for TWILIGHT, Sandler and Rihanna at 33rd RAZZIE® AWARDS". Razzies.com.
21. (June 15, 2012). "Breaking Dawn leads the way at Teen Choice Awards nominations". Winnipeg Free Press.