'Goodrich' Reviews: "It's a refreshing, down-to-earth film for Keaton"

         On October 18, 2024, Ketchup Entertainment released 'Goodrich', which has earned a mixed reception from critics, currently holding at 68% on Rotten Tomatoes. In the film, "Andy Goodrich's (Michael Keaton) life is upended when his wife and mother of their nine-year-old twins enters a 90-day rehab program, leaving him on his own with their young kids. Thrust into the world of modern parenthood, Goodrich leans on his daughter from his first marriage, Grace (Mila Kunis), as he ultimately evolves into the father Grace never had." But what did the critics say?

       Roger Moore of Movie Nation says, "There’s no heavy lifting in “Goodrich,” the Michael Keaton/Mila Kunis dramedy about a workaholic second-time-around dad forced to reconnect with his kids, including the one old enough to be pregnant. The jokes about trying, after 60, to learn to be a dad, are easy to reach to the point of cute and mostly low-hanging fruit. The formula in play is another “I did my best” parent facing a sometimes comic, sometimes sad reckoning. At its most somber, it reaches for “Kramer vs. Kramer.” In lighter moments, one can wonder if all involved could have just turned this into a sequel to one of Keaton’s earliest hits, “Mister Mom.” The edgiest thing about it is its rating, “R,” for profanity. It would have reached a wider audience as a PG-13. But this it’s well-acted and it plays. More or less. Writer-director Hallie Meyers-Shyer was an actress before getting that first writing-directing (Reese Witherspoon’s “Home Again”), but is still most famously the daughter of writer-director couple Nancy Meyers and Charles Shyer, who remade “The Parent Trap” and “Father of the Bride” before divorcing. She doesn’t embarrass herself and give Hollywood “nepo babies” a bad name here any more than she makes her name with this slight, derivative star vehicle."

        Shawn Van Horn of Collider notes, "Written and directed by Hallie Meyers-Shyer, and co-starring Mila Kunis, Goodrich doesn't deal with superheroes or the supernatural. It's a refreshing, down-to-earth film for Keaton, with him playing an aging man who is going through a coming-of-age story in the last act of his life. It's a simple, cozy dramedy, one you've watched before with beats you can see coming a mile away, and while it's not going to go down as one of Keaton's best, him giving his best takes it from being another paint-by-numbers film to something sweet and worth seeing if you want to see a feel-good story to counter the likes of Joker: Folie à Deux and Terrifer 3 at the cinemas."

       Alexander Harrison of Screen Rant writes, "Keaton's performance is the heart of this success. He somehow conveys his character's self-examination as a layer underneath each scene, to the extent that in each interaction outside a work setting, Andy appears to be discovering how to behave. It's like he was dropped into this movie right when we were, snapped out of whatever illusion kept him running for so long and having to learn what's really been going on with the people around him for the first time."

Photo by Drew Beamer on Unsplash

'Family Guy's First Halloween Special "makes a Halloween special feel natural and exciting to its world"

         On October 14, 2024, 'Family Guy' released its very first Halloween special on Hulu, which is entitled 'Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Cheater', which has received predominantly positive reviews. It is worth noting that the series has had episodes dedicated to the spooky holiday before, with one of the episodes containing my personal favorite moment from the series, but this could well be the start of an annual holiday tradition. The ensemble cast includes Glen Powell, Derek Jacobi, Alex Borstein, Mila Kunis, Seth Green, and Seth MacFarlane. But what did the critics say?

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

        Daniel Kurland of CBR says, "Halloween episodes can be a rich staple in animated series — just look at The Simpsons — but Family Guy has been rather selective with this holiday, and only indulged in it a handful of times. In fact, Halloween specials only started in the hit adult cartoon's ninth season. This is certainly territory that's still fresh for Family Guy to explore making the recent announcement that it will be exploring holiday specials that are exclusive to Hulu — rather than its terrestrial home, FOX — interesting. Family Guy has such a fluid reality that it makes a Halloween special feel natural and exciting to its world. This is true whether the show's special decides to do a more conventional and grounded take on the holiday, or a more grandiose genre parody like the “Blue Harvest” Star Wars specials. “Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Cheater” doesn’t attempt to recreate any holiday classics like A Nightmare on Elm Street or Halloween, but it’s also hardly a “normal” Family Guy episode. The special clocks in at the typical Family Guy episode length and more or less operates like a standard installment, rather than a more heightened and cinematic experiment that's akin to South Park's Paramount+ specials. "Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Cheater" certainly doesn't reinvent the wheel, but it still makes for an entertaining enough addition to anyone's Halloween watchlist that also takes advantage of an entertaining and well-utilized guest star." Adding, "Peter, Peter Pumpkin Cheater” begins simply enough, where a conversation about Halloween costumes becomes a microcosm of Stewie and Brian’s growing pains as friends. Stewie really isn’t asking for much here, but his need to lock in plans and put a label on their dynamic prompts claustrophobic and limiting feelings in Brian that wear down his patience. Previously, Family Guy demonstrated astute insight into how both Stewie and Brian only have each other and don’t have any real friends beyond one another, as much as they’d like to believe otherwise. Their riff hits a boiling point on Halloween night and prompts some Frankenstein-esque theatrics. This results in Rupert the teddy bear coming to life and seeking to settle Stewie’s feud in a very Chucky-meets-Ted manner. Stewie and Brian’s complicated relationship is one of Family Guy’s richest and most rewarding character dynamics. Family Guy confidently embraced this bond for many of its most important and successful episodes and arcs. It’s not surprising to see that “Peter, Peter, Pumpkin Cheater” turns to this friendship as one of its core ideas. In fact, there’s a satisfying simplicity to how such a wild episode essentially boils down to Stewie's and Brian’s toxic and codependent friendship. There’s nothing in this episode that hasn’t been said before in Family Guy, but there’s a newfound sense of urgency and higher stakes that are accomplished through the murderous roadblock that sets out to sever their ties."