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Perhaps Generation was more palatable on Broadway, where Henry Fonda's enormously appealing personality made it into a modest hit. Brought to the screen with the significantly less engaging David Janssen subbing for Fonda, the result is a painfully dated, only intermittently amusing look at the generation gap. Although scenarist William Goodhart tries to be fair and let members of both generations have their say, the film is still weighted against the "kooky" young couple -- and Goodhart's better-than-average ear for dialogue goes seriously deaf when writing the "with it" dialogue for the younger set. This would matter less if the screenplay offered rich comic opportunities in terms of its plot or characters, but the would-be farce comes across as forced. Director George Schaefer doesn't help matters with his hit-or-miss direction and sometimes sluggish pacing. Janssen tries hard, but he lacks both sufficient charm and comic timing. Kim Darby and Peter Duel are fine but somewhat bland as the young couple, but Andrew Prine is considerably better as the cynically efficient PR man, and Carl Reiner is quite good as the unwanted obstetrician, making his scenes work far better than they have any right to. Reiner's not enough to save the movie, but he does make it come alive for a good stretch or two.