This film stars three great legends: Katharine Hepburn, Henry Fonda and Jane Fonda as the Thayers.
Henry Fonda is the curmedgeony Norman Thayer, retired college professor. Hepburn is his kind wife, Ethel and Jane Fonda is their daughter, Chelsea, whom we don't know too much about except she lives far away and has a troubled relationship with her father just as Jane did in real life. But Norman is about to turn eighty and Chelsea has a new boyfriend who has a son, Billy Ray (Doug McKeon). While it is probably not the greatest idea, Chelsea and her boyfriend (Dabney Coleman) leave his teenage son behind and head off to Europe, but this forces Norman to become less grumpy and have a fellow troublemaker around and they do get into trouble, getting caught in the rocks when they go out fishing, but the summer does finally get Chelsea to try to be friends with her father and none too soon as he nearly has a heart attack at the end of the film, but fortunately recovers because Ethel needs him. He's her knight in shining armor. But they probably won't have many more summers on the lake.
While the plot is a truffle and underdeveloped at times, the acting is impeccable, though Henry should have won his Oscar four decades earlier for his brilliant performance as Tom Joad in The Grapes of Wrath, but the film is abound with natural performances. I just hope that no loons were harmed in the making of this film. Grade: B+
Side Notes:
-Whenever there's a knock on the door, he yells for Ethel to get the door, but its always her knocking.
-Chelsea's new husband is not an outdoorsman.
-I wonder why Norman didn't want the mailman to marry Chelsea.
-If you want someone to perform a back flip, your driving board should probably be higher.
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