The Netflix original Like Father is a formulaic story that wastes its lead actors

A new Netflix original movie explores the estranged relationship between a father and his daughter, by putting them on a cruise, the day after she was left at the altar. And despite this interesting premise, the rest of Like Father leaves a lot to be desired.

With heavyweight performers like Kelsey Grammer and Kristen Bell, one would expect the original Netflix movie Like Father, to offer something new and fresh. Instead, we get a tired, supposed to be endearing, yet lighthearted drama, about a father-daughter relationship that telegraphs almost every scene beforehand, with a formulaic story and awkward storytelling.

When Rachel (Kristen Bell) is left at the altar for prioritizing work over her husband-to-be, her father Harry (Kelsey Grammer) appears after 25 years to be there for her during this time of need. After a night that started out awkwardly, the two get drunk and end up on the cruise ship which was supposed to be Rachel’s honeymoon. Trapped together with nothing to do but reconnect, the two need to sort through their problems, as Rachel comes face to face with the father that abandoned her decades ago. 

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Like Father is an incredibly formulaic movie with a story, the beginning, middle and end of which can be seen from a mile away. The dialogue is clunky, awkward and the conflict is set up, resolved and dismissed all too easily, for the sake of moving things along.

Bell is cast as the workaholic protagonist, who is never seen in a positive light. First-time feature film director Lauren Miller Rogen relies on the sympathy from the audience for what happens to Rachel (abandoned by father, left at the altar) to overshadow the fact that she comes off as a truly terrible person with no redeeming qualities. It’s a little confounding why someone so naturally charming and talented would be cast in a role where she has very little to do besides staring at a phone, and being mean; not in a funny way either.

The progression of these two main characters, Rachel and Harry, overcoming their differences, forgiving each other and learning to be father and daughter come at awkward intervals, with forced dialogue and reveals that make no sense. 

The story spends a chunk of the time focusing on the reveal of why Harry left Rachel when she was five years old. The reveal was that he felt his family was holding him back, so travelled for work for long periods of time, and couldn’t bear to keep saying good-bye to his toddler daughter, so instead just abandoned her forever. This was the straight-faced explanation that Harry gives his daughter, who, most shockingly, accepts it and has a good cry. 

Two minutes later, she is completely fine, over all her baggage, abandonment and daddy issues, and decides to live life instead of being a slave to her phone. It’s that instantaneous and that unrealistic. 

Like Father definitely has moments of light-hearted humor that will be appealing to general audiences. The appearance by Seth Rogen as the rebound guy for Rachel is refreshing and Rogen’s brand of awkward humor and rambling really fits the tone of the movie and is a breath of fresh air in a story that’s overly tense in many scenes. 

The intention behind Like Father is apparent; a heartwarming story about a woman overcoming her baggage and reconnecting with her father. But that premise is adhered to so closely that the filmmakers fail to do anything new or interesting with the rest of the movie.

Like Father is now available to stream on Netflix