Quartile rating: 5/10 · 1 rating
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?
Old Dogs is a formulaic fish-out-of-water family comedy that offers little beyond recycled slapstick and predictable heartwarming beats. The plot is a paint-by-numbers setup with no surprises, and despite a capable cast (Robin Williams, John Travolta), the material gives them almost nothing to work with, resulting in performances that feel wasted and broad. Cinematography is serviceable but utterly unremarkable, fitting squarely into the bland visual style of late-2000s studio comedies. Novelty is very low — the premise, structure, and humor are entirely derivative of countless 'bumbling adults suddenly responsible for kids' comedies. The ending follows the predictable emotional redemption arc with no subversion or surprise.