Daddy and Them

R

Released Jun 6, 2001

1h 41m

Comedy

List

86%

7 Reviews

Tomatometer

54%

1,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Welcome to America's Heartland, home of hurricanes, tornadoes, heat waves... and Claude (Billy Bob Thornton) and Ruby (Laura Dern) Montgomery. Never has a couple in these parts been as madly in love, or as often at odds. When news reaches them that Claude's Uncle Hazel (Jim Varney) has been arrested, they head to the family homestead in Little Rock to lend their support. As the extended family reunites, it quickly becomes clear that, with this bunch, anything goes and everyone speaks their mind.

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Audience Member

This movie has a nice cast, but it ultimately comes up short in the story category. It has a few laughs, but is just not a good movie. I don't want to waste anymore writing on t this sub par movie.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

01/26/23

Full Review

Audience Member

First and foremost this is billy Bob’s best type of persona . There was just something about this movie that drew me right from the start and had me going along the entire ride . I love deadpan humor 4.1. Billy’s wife’s jealous throughout the entire movie was my favorite part

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/02/21

Full Review

Audience Member

Funny, cute, sweet & very "COUNTRY" movie about what everyone needs to know about family, acceptance & love,?

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/09/23

Full Review

jesse o

Perfectly fine, but this is a fairly underwhelming film. It's got a more than solid cast but, outside of Andy Griffith's performance, there's sort of a mishandling of the talented cast. I don't think the scripting is great but I think there's flashes of brilliance here and there. For example, Walter Goggins' little scene with Alvin was tremendous and clearly the comedic highlight of the film. And Brenda Blethyn's freak-out was pretty great as well, her delivery was just tremendous. I also liked how Alvin, after reading ONE book about psychology, goes around psychoanalyzing everyone in his family and helping to solve their issues. These are the funniest scenes in the movie and they're left for the latter part of the film. The rest of the film's comedy is hit and miss, I think there's as many hits as there are misses. But the hits are singles rather than home-runs, to tie back to the baseball analogy. Another problem is that the last 15 or so minutes are fairly sentimental and not particularly interesting to me. I suppose they make sense in the context of Claude and Ruby's relationship, but it didn't really do anything for me and I think it did take away from the movie, which at this point I would've given 3 stars to if it hadn't been for the last 15 minutes. Still the cast is good, if slightly mismanaged, and there are some quite funny moments but I found this to be an average film at best.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Written and directed by Billy Bob Thornton, who had won an Oscar for his screenplay for Sling Blade (1996), he filmed this in 1998, but Miramax wouldn't release it, and said they would if he did All The Pretty Horses (2000) first. Thornton did and they shafted him over that too. It's a shame, as there's something warmly funny about this film, showing the pains of family loyalty in rural America. Set in Arkanas, Claude Montgomery (Thornton) and his wife Ruby (Laura Dern), get a call regarding Claude's uncle Hazel (Jim Varney), who has been thrown in jail for an alleged attempted murder. So they drive across state to sort this out, Claude and Ruby travel with Ruby's mother Jewell (Diane Ladd) and sister Rose (Kelly Preston). They get there, Claude's father O.T. (Andy Griffith) straightens them out on what's happened, and Jewell regales O.T.'s new wife, Julia (Brenda Blethyn), about Claude and Ruby's insecure and rocky relationship, which adds to the already tense atmosphere, then Hazel is released... It's a frank look at redneck life in middle America, and it's close in tone to a Mike Leigh film, (especially with Blethyn in it), but Thornton makes the most of the cast, getting the best out of the most the cast, including cameos from Jamie Lee Curtis and Ben Affleck. It's a little seen black comedy, and Thornton has only just got behind the camera again recently for Jayne Mansfield's Car (2012).

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/05/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Brothers aren't supposed to see brothers on the shitter Claude and Roby Montgomery are a middle aged couple with no kids and little direction in life. When Claude's uncle gets locked up, they head to Claude's home to show support and attend the court precessions. While in Claude's hometown they'll uncover their true love for each other. "She's my sister and I love her but I don't like that you fucked her." Billy Bob Thornton, director of Slingblade, All the Pretty Horses, The King of Luck, and Jayne Mansfield's Car, delivers Daddy and Them. The storyline for this film is nothing special but the character development and script is amazing. The cast delivers outstanding performances and includes Billy Bob Thornton, Laura Dern, Diane Ladd, Kelly Preston, and Andy Griffin. "The only reason you guys got to church is to show off new clothes. Don't think I don't know shit like that." I caught this film while flicking through the channels and thought the lines and character interactions were mesmerizing. I could wait to see what happened next throughout the film. I caught myself completely stopping what I was doing so I could see who said what to who and what happened to this person. I loved this film and felt Thornton and Dern were perfect. This movie is worth adding to your DVD collection and is an underrated gem. Grade: A

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

01/19/23

Full Review

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Billy Bob Thornton

Director

Billy Bob Thornton

Claude Montgomery

Laura Dern

Ruby Montgomery

Diane Ladd

Jewel

Kelly Preston

Rose

Andy Griffith

O.T. Montgomery

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Eddie Cockrell

Variety

Beneath its deadpan and often absurdist exterior, "Daddy and Them" feels like a very personal piece of work about how family really does come first, warts and all.

Jul 6, 2010

Full Review

Jamie Gillies

Apollo Guide

Isn't horrible and isn't a classic either.

Rated: 71/100

Aug 25, 2004

Full Review

Matt Brunson

Creative Loafing

As long as yahoo endeavors like this keep getting financed, don't expect the South to rise again any time soon.

Rated: 1.5/4

Feb 4, 2004

Full Review

David Nusair

Reel Film Reviews

...how many other opportunities are you going to get to hear Andy Griffith use a particularly nasty euphemism for prison rape?

Rated: 3/4

Feb 1, 2004

Full Review

Brent Simon

Entertainment Today

With only modest expectations in mind, this dysfunction-palooza turns out to be a loosely knit, affable enough treat.

Rated: C+

Jan 26, 2004

Full Review

Betty Jo Tucker

ReelTalk Movie Reviews

These dysfunctional characters seem so real, thanks to excellent acting by everyone involved and to Billy Bob Thornton's intuitive writing and directing.

Jan 14, 2004

Full Review

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Synopsis

Welcome to America's Heartland, home of hurricanes, tornadoes, heat waves... and Claude (Billy Bob Thornton) and Ruby (Laura Dern) Montgomery. Never has a couple in these parts been as madly in love, or as often at odds. When news reaches them that Claude's Uncle Hazel (Jim Varney) has been arrested, they head to the family homestead in Little Rock to lend their support. As the extended family reunites, it quickly becomes clear that, with this bunch, anything goes and everyone speaks their mind.

Director: Billy Bob Thornton
Producer: Jonathan Gordon
Screenwriter: Billy Bob Thornton
Distributor: Showtime Entertainment, Miramax Films
Production Co: The Shooting Gallery, Miramax Films, WMG Film, Industry Entertainment, Free Hazel Films
Rating: R (Strong Language)
Genre: Comedy
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jun 6, 2001, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Jul 1, 2019
Runtime: 1h 41m
Sound Mix: Surround, SDDS, Dolby Digital

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