Parenthood

"I sit down at the dinner table and I look around, and I see jason Robards and Dianne Wiest and Steve Martin and Mary Steenburgen and Helen Shaw and Rick Moranis and Harley Kozak ... " Impish actor Tom Hulce is describing his first scene in Ron Howard's comedy 'Parenthood'. Based in part on Howard's own experience, the film is the story of three grown children (Martin, Wiest and Kozak) struggling to raise children of their own, while the fourth, the screw-up (Hulce), forces their father (Robards) to confront his own failure as a parent. "The characters we play in this film", says Hulce, "have a history, being father and son". And he has
nothing but praise for the rest of the cast. "I saw Steve Martin do about 17 takes of one reaction shot - it was like a catalog of comedy." (American Film, July '89