Parenthood is an extremely entertaining movie which was released in 1989. It was directed by Ron Howard and starred Steve Martin as Gil Buckman, and extremely neurotic father who is worried about how his emotional flaws are affecting his son. Rick Moranis plays Nathan Merrick, Gil's brother-in-law. He and his wife are extremely goal oriented and are already primping their six year old daughter for Harvard. Diane Wiest plays Helen Buckman who is a woman with a career, a daughter who is rebelling by sleeping with her brain dead boyfried (Keanu Reeves, who is apt at the role) and a son who stays padlocked in his room all the time. Her husband ran off with a token bimbo as part of his midlife crisis and she is doing her best to run a family sans man. The cast is rounded out by Jason Robards playing Gil's father, Mary Steenburgen playing his wife and many other, supporting actors.
The film isn't really a comedy, it doesn't deal with any of the problems of parenthood lightly. However, some parts of raising chlidren are just so quirky and funny and they are accurately played as such. All in all, a fantastic ensemble performance which rewards the viewer with a funny, heart warming, dramatic and thoughtful experience of what parenthood is like for three different families. | 
