Mr. Mom

Walking down the street one day, I happened upon a bag full of brand-new mostly deplorable dvds. Some movie called "Pale-Male," "Pirates of the Carribbean 2," "Face-Off," some show tunes, you get the picture. I did find myself tempted by a double feature of "Baby Boom" and "Mr. Mom." After selling the crappy ones to the record store for a measly $5, I had forgotten all about my one score, until unearthing it this past weekend. After watching Mr. Mom, I have to admit, it's pretty fucking fantastic.

The plot: A Detroit car salesman loses his job at the plant, due to hard economic times, and his wife goes to work for a high-rolling PR firm, saddling him with three kids. And as we all know, men can't care for children... what a predicament! You can watch it yourself, and see the normative 1950s suburban family unit unravel before your very eyes--hilariously. A parent dressed up like ET during a trick or treat scene had me crying, especially because he creepily pops out from behind a tree, and just sort of lingers akwardly throughout the scene... A screen grab:


Additionally, MGM didn't do much with the transfer, creating a hybrid VHS-DVD, washed out tone that makes it all look like an early 90s cereal commercial. Or maybe that was, umm... err... part of the director's creative vision... Either way, I love the crappy picture quality. It doesn't say what the transfer method was, but my guess would be that it was processed by either optical wet-gate printing, or contact printing.

This trailer pales in comparison to the real thing, but alas: