Old Dogs

"Sit. Stay. Play Dad."

2009 1h 28m EN

😐

5.6

MID

★5.6TMDB · 810

ComedyFamily

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Charlie and Dan have been best friends and business partners for thirty years; their Manhattan public relations firm is on the verge of a huge business deal with a Japanese company. With two weeks to sew up the contract, Dan gets a surprise: a woman he married on a drunken impulse nearly nine years before (annulled the next day) shows up to tell him he's the father of her twins, now seven, and she'll be in jail for 14 days for a political protest. Dan volunteers to keep the tykes, although he's uptight and clueless. With Charlie's help is there any way they can be dad and uncle, meet the kids' expectations, and still land the account?

“Sit. Stay. Play Dad.”

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Cast

John Travolta
Charlie
Robin Williams
Dan
Kelly Preston
Vicki
Conner Rayburn
Zach
Ella Bleu Travolta
Emily
Lori Loughlin
Amanda
Seth Green
Ralph White
Bernie Mac
Jimmy Lunchbox

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Walt Becker
Writers: David Diamond, David Weissman
Languages: English, Ukrainian
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

88 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 17 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Ukrainian.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Walt Becker, shot by Jeffrey L. Kimball. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by John Debney. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Ryan Folsey shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

John Travolta and Robin Williams and Kelly Preston carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Sit. Stay. Play Dad.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Walt Becker directs. Jeffrey L. Kimball behind the camera. John Debney scores. Ryan Folsey cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English, Ukrainian.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

188 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
2Released 17 years ago.
3Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Ukrainian.
4Directed by Walt Becker, shot by Jeffrey L. Kimball. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by John Debney. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Ryan Folsey shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7John Travolta and Robin Williams and Kelly Preston carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "Sit. Stay. Play Dad.".
9IMDB entry: tt0976238 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Released under 12 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Jeffrey L. Kimball
Original score: John Debney
Editing: Ryan Folsey
Production design: David Gropman
Costume design: Joseph G. Aulisi
Makeup / hair: Persefone Karakosta
VFX supervisor: Mark Dornfeld
Sound: Debby VanPoucke
Stunt coordinator: Bob Brown
Runtime: 88 min · 1h 28m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $35,000,000
Box office: $96,753,696
Return: 276% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG
IMDB: Old Dogs (2009)

Also by

Walt Becker

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Kamurai2020-09-20
★ 3/10
Bad watch, won't watch again, and can't recommend. I love Robin Williams and Seth Green, but man, I don't know what is wrong with Travolta in this. I'm not a big fan of his to begin with, but he's just a jackass. Not only does he have a jerk character, but he looks like he's phoning it in too. "I'm here, I'm saying the lines." It wouldn't be so bad if he wasn't the lead character. The movie is about THEIR business, and Robin's character's kids, but personality wise Robin has to play this push over character that can't do anything but take the punches, and he doesn't do abuse humor well. He's known for absurd humor, that the situation is ridiculous and out of control, not that he's suffering from it persay. I've also always like Robin William's connection to kids and that, at heart, he's a family guy. This character that lives isolated from his kids, that can't be fun was a poor casting for him. Honestly, looking at the story even, I don't know why anyone decided to make this, unless the right names made it happen, and they just left big blank spaces in the script that said, "something ridiculous and funny" and they just slotted in things like "Seth Green gets adopted by a Guerilla". Don't waste your time with this unless you're just on a Robin Williams marathon for completionist sake.
r96sk2020-11-08
★ 3/10
I wanted this to be good, but it's anything but. There is nothing I enjoyed about 'Old Dogs', every second of its 88 minute run time is a hard slog. Robin Williams and John Travolta are the only reasons that I haven't rated this even lower, I'm not saying those two are all that noteworthy in this but their acting ability raises things up ever so slightly. The premise is incredibly lame and painstakingly predictable, while the comedy is very lazy - I didn't laugh once, there's not even a minutely chucklesome moment. There are some terrible attempted gags in there. A major disappointment, I wanted to like this due to the two leads but I just couldn't. Dreadful film. 2000s live-action Disney is mental. From the greatness of 'Pirates of the Caribbean', 'Holes' and 'The Greatest Game Ever Played' to the diabolical 'The Country Bears', 'Max Keeble's Big Move' and now this. Rather incredible.