(1995)1.5Karl WilliamsThis frivolous sequel/remake stretches already thin concepts and characters to their breaking points, wearing out its welcome quickly. As with its predecessor, the film's highlight is the comic performance of lead actor Steve Martin, whose character takes the news of his impending grandfather status by leaping headlong into an amusing mid-life crisis. If only the rest of the film had been so entertaining. The marriage crisis of George's daughter and son-in-law, his middle-aged wife's unexpected pregnancy, and the unconvincingly explained reappearance of Franck (Martin Short), simply to shoehorn his popular character back into the story, make for a script top-heavy with plot developments, leaving little time for actual comedy. Particularly tiresome is the subplot about George's impetuous sale of the family home to a marble-mouthed Middle Eastern businessman (Eugene Levy), a story development that succeeds in being boring, unbelievable, and an ethnic slur, simultaneously. A good clue as to the filmmakers' pecuniary intent and level of originality here is the numbskull title, far less clever than the title of the original, Father's Little Dividend (1951), and also illogical, since no one in the film is technically a bride.
