PARENTAL GUIDANCE
Old-school grandparents take on new-school parenting — and win big laughs.
Should You Watch It?
This one earns its four stars. Billy Crystal and Bette Midler are a joy as grandparents thrown into babysitting duty, and the movie balances real laughs with real heart — the kind that has you laughing and crying in the same scene. Crystal's speech in favor of common-sense parenting, competition, and earned self-esteem is the rare movie moment parents will want to stand up and cheer.
The catch is small but worth knowing: a 3-year-old character supplies most of the film's scatological comedy, including a nickname gag and a bathroom mishap that younger kids might imitate at home. There's also some mild slapstick violence — a cake fight, a couple of groin hits.
None of it undercuts the film's core message, which is refreshingly countercultural: old-fashioned tough love, still worth defending. Take the family, but talk to the little ones about what not to repeat.
The Story
NO SPOILERS — WE KEEP THE SURPRISESAlice and Phil need a babysitter for their three kids while they take a trip together. Phil's solution: call in Alice's parents, Artie and Diane. Alice agrees reluctantly — she remembers her parents' old-school ways all too well.
Artie, freshly out of a job and out of step with his grandchildren's modern rules, quickly discovers just how different "helicopter parenting" is from the way he raised his own daughter. Something's got to give.
Is It Any Good?
Four stars means this comedy delivers on nearly every front. Crystal and Midler carry the film with genuine comic chemistry, and the script gives them a real emotional arc alongside the jokes — this is a movie with "lots of humor and lots of heart," capable of moving an audience to laughter and tears in the same breath. Crystal's mid-film speech on parenting, competition, and self-esteem stands out as a rare moment of earnest conviction inside a mainstream comedy.
The film's one soft spot is its reliance on a 3-year-old's bathroom humor for a chunk of its laughs — broad, kid-friendly slapstick rather than sharp wit. It doesn't sink the movie, but it's the reason this review carries any caution at all.
The Worldview
This film knows exactly what it believes, and it says so with confidence: parenting matters, tough love works, and competition and achievement build real self-esteem — not the "everybody gets a trophy" substitute. The grandparents' old-school instincts are vindicated against their daughter's more anxious, modern style, and the film pokes real fun at "touchy-feely" liberal parenting trends and at resistance to teaching kids how to compete and lose gracefully. It's a rare studio comedy willing to take a side.
The film is also warmly pro-family in smaller ways: a married couple gets away together while grandparents step in, and the household — despite its friction — is never in doubt as a place of love. There's no sex, nudity, alcohol, or drug content to weigh against any of this; the only caution is the scatological material built around the youngest child, plus some mild slapstick.
Underneath the comedy is a plain, true idea: children thrive under loving discipline, not endless accommodation. Scripture says much the same — "Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him" (Proverbs 13:24). A film that makes that case with this much warmth and humor is worth your evening.
The Content Guide
The specifics — spoilers included by nature — so you can judge for your own family.
Content Summary
Very strong moral, pro-parent, pro-family worldview with some strong but brief content supporting traditional American values of tough love and competition satirizing today’s feely touchy liberal parenting and liberal antagonism against teaching children how to compete in sports; no foul language but some scatological content that younger children may emulate such as 3-year-old boy calls his grandfather “Fartie” instead of Artie and pees on skateboard ramp; some slapstick violence such as cake fight, two or three groin hits, man on skateboard tumbles when skateboard hits liquid; no sex scenes but married couple leaves children with grandparents to go on a trip to be alone; no nudity; no alcohol use; no smoking or drugs; and, joke between grandmother and mother when grandmother says granddaughter should wear a dress that shows off her “cute heinie.”
Talk About It
Questions for the drive home, the dinner table, or the youth group.
Artie and Diane's "old school" parenting clashes with their daughter's more modern approach. What does Scripture say about discipline and love working together, not against each other?
Proverbs 13:24 · Ephesians 6:4The movie makes a case for competition and earned achievement over unearned praise. How does your family talk about winning, losing, and self-worth?
Colossians 3:23 · Philippians 2:3Alice has to trust her parents with her children, even when their methods differ from her own. What does trusting the older generation's wisdom look like in your family?
Proverbs 1:8 · Leviticus 19:32The film pokes fun at "helicopter parenting." Where's the line between protecting your kids and letting them grow through real challenge and correction?
Hebrews 12:11The Final Word
Billy Crystal and Bette Midler make this one a genuine pleasure — funny, warm, and unafraid to say something true about raising children well. A little bathroom humor from the youngest character is the only real caution, easily talked through with older kids. Our answer stands: worth the trip — older children and up.
