User reviews

Even first rate actors like Kevin Spacey cannot save a film just on their name alone, they need a better script to work with. In this case Kevin Spacey plays a successful multi-millionaire inventor named Robert Axle who ends up serving a 10 year prison term for inventing and releasing prematurely an exercise machine that severs fingers from a number of purchasers. Robert Axle invested his whole life in marketing his inventions and no time what so ever with his little girl, played by Camilla Belle, or his ex wife Lorraine played by Virginia Madsen.

When Axle gets out of prison not only is his name poison with the large retail giants, but his ex wife has remarried to a Forest Ranger named Jerry King played by Craig Robinson, and they have slowly squandered a fortune of over 200 million dollars. Axle's only daughter Claire, played by Camilla Belle still suffers from latent child abandonment issues. So life has been cruel to Robert Axle these past 10 years in prison. He first befriends his daughters two roommates, who agree to give up their couch to Robert rather than have to watch him live in a men's shelter for too long.

In an effort to redeem himself and regain his Midas touch with a new invention, Axle goes to work at the fourth largest retail chain named Family World, whose immediate Assistant Store Manager is a guy named Troy Coangelo, played superbly by Johnny Knoxville. Axle and Troy don't see eye to eye on the store's priorities and as such Axle's career at Family World is short lived. Desperate to make amends with his daughter Claire, Axle does come up with a new invention but can't find an investor willing to risk financing a dead beat and felony ex convict like Axle.

Eventually he does find one investor and he also makes amends with his daughter. Yes, there are a few sentimental tear jerker scenes between father and daughter but not quite enough good film value for me to recommend Father Of Invention for your viewing pleasure.

As a result I rate the film a 5 out of 10. Viewer beware of a weak script with little decent content.

I was quite surprised at all the ultra negative reviews regarding 'The Father of Invention.' Okay, I'll admit it isn't Kevin Spacey's finest film and obviously it isn't up to the standards of American Beauty, but I found it had a certain amount of charm to it.

Spacey plays a slick 'infomercial' salesman who ends up getting his good-life taken away from him when he goes to jail, thus leaving his wife and daughter high and dry. Fast forward eight years and he's released and desperate to make amends (not to mention lots of money).

It's not the most original of stories and you can probably predict the ending, but it is Kevin Spacey in the lead role and, slightly dubious script or not, he still lends plenty of heavyweight kudos to the whole affair. It's definitely a comedy/drama. If you're expecting a 'laugh-a-minute' affair then you'll be sorely disappointed, but I found it had enough humorous moments to keep me happy.

Like I say, predictable ending and plenty of 'lessons' to teach us, but if you're a fan of Kevin Spacey, it should keep you going until his next offering.

"Father of Invention" stars Kevin Spacey as a fabricator, an infomercial king, who combines existing products into new ones. Problem is he was in jail, now he has lost his empire, and lost his family. The key word in the title is father. The entire film is him trying to reconnect with his daughter (Camilla Belle).

Spacey has frequently played fathers trying to reconnect with their daughter, the prime example being "American Beauty" (1999). Not that one is likely to confuse the two films, but there's an underlying similarity about the pursuit of success and the pursuit of family. That's what "Father of Invention" is about but it doesn't actually explore those issues.

It's also supposed to be a comedy, but because it was just him and his daughter there was nothing clever that catches you off-guard to make you laugh. The daughter (whom, by the way, I have already forgotten her name) lives with two roommates. One is in love with Kevin Spacey (whom I have also forgotten his character's name) and the other is a lesbian. There was no slow reveal for any of this. Those facts were just presented as if they create whole characters.

The conflict which this builds to isn't surprising (it's part of the mandate for dysfunctional family dramedies) or even interesting since we never did care for the characters in the first place. "Father of Invention" certainly didn't invent anything and there's nothing special about the daughter or the father.

Not so good cast of actors, especially the female roles, it seriously disappoint because all its ideas are already used a lot previously. Despite all: it entertains quite well.

The movie was so so, It falls short due to the fact that the movie is based on fictional product inventions and with that said, great inventions can't come out of this movie. Otherwise someone would patent the idea and make it an actual product right?

The inventions fall short for obvious reasons and that's expected. They handled it best they could by providing "fabrications" as apposed to actual inventions.

Lack of creativity in the invention ideas is where this movie falls short, as the inventions are driving this movie and steering it in directions that wasn't very enjoyable.

Worth watching but I wouldn't recommend it.

This is a movie with enough cast talent to, on paper, make this a must-watch. Sadly, the movie never rises to a level of theatrical release quality and is one of those movies you stumble upon, watch passively for 2 hours, then forget about almost immediately.

Weakly framed around a strained father-daughter relationship, this is really only Kevin Spacey's movie to win or lose. Filmed at a time, before the controversies, when he was still praised and relevant, he gives a worthy performance.

To the movie's credit, Spacey is surrounded by stunning and hugely watchable female talent to the likes of Camilla Belle, Heather Graham, and Virginia Madsen, all largely in their heyday at the time.

There's really nothing special here, but it's oddly entertaining to watch an attractive cast of characters immersing themselves in the moment.

Do cardiologists operate without having spent a second in Medical School? Do Engineers build bridges without first knowing something about mathematics and physics? Then how the hell did this guy get away with writing and directing this dreck? Because in Hollywood these days it doesn't matter whether you know your craft just be a good friend to someone who can pull a movie together. Zanuck, Mayer, Laemmle, the brothers Warner are all rotating in their respective graves at a very high velocity.

First for a comedy the camera is way too close and many times the geography is all out of whack. It has that poorly lit video sheen. Appears to have been shot at 29.97.

The actors give it their best but the script is such a ludicrous and absurd mess they can not be saved. Plus the dialogue feels lifted right out of the world's worst film school short. There is no drama or comedy. Everything becomes one unfocused blob. It appears they may have shot the first draft of the script.

Direction was non existent(maybe spent way too much time at the craft service table) and I've seen monkeys edit better motion pictures, but considering the footage may not be the editor's fault.

The best thing about this was the subtitles and goofed on this film. At times realizing the picture was so awful they just placed gibberish in place of the dialogue.

A total waste of a germ of what may have been a good idea and a very, very talented cast.

It's so sad...

Stupendously dumb movie. Complete waste of time, and pretty cringe-worthy to see Spacey struggling with the weak script, the flat acting and cramped humour.

Most scenes appear blatant and set up with an idiotic take on what should be the structure of a 'fabrication' of a riches-to-ashes meets my-daddy-is my hero tale.

Just watch 'The Pursuit of Happiness' backwards followed by 'Meet the parents', throw in some amateur level editing and Uwe Boll talent for delivering and you get the idea.

Definitely Spacey's worst performance and most certainly one of those titles in which most times you'll be asking yourself 'Oh Kevin, what did you do?'.

If avoidable you really should.

Also, it seems all other (three!) reviews are dupes. Which is why I felt the need to share this.

This film starts off well but the deteriorates about halfway through and falls flat into a clichéd ending.

Kevin Spacey was good and I appreciated his humorous performance and physical comedy. Camilla Belle was OK, but bordering on mannequin performance (I have liked her in other movies though). She also needs to gain a little weight. At one point I was distracted by some weirdness in her face - please tell me she did not get botox at her age. Speaking of botox, the other roommate needs to stop with her injections because she looks freakish; she seems pretty otherwise but not a great actress. Heather Graham was OK but her character was one dimensional and not engaging.

Johnny Knoxville had some good moments but in a couple shots he looks old and tired. One of the funniest moments if not the funniest moment was Michael Rosenbaum as the ex-boyfriend - WHY was there not more of him??? He can do comedy.

Virginia Madsen as the ex-wife was annoying and vapid leaving no reason the viewer would want to care about her in the least. You just want to punch her in the face for squandering $200 million dollars (?) in ten years and having NO money for her daughter at all??? Waste product. It would have been more realistic if the daughter did not connect with her instead of her father. Craig Robinson held his own.

The plot is initially interesting and loaded with potential but poor scripting and character inconsistencies bog this storyline.

Ending - no climax and a letdown...

First of all this movie made me 1) Use my brains and think positive 2) Laugh at least few times 3) Positive mood. So it's definitely not a bad movie! It makes you open your mind a bit, like Sandlers "Click" (but not that good movie IMHO).

Really the backbone of "Father of Invention" are actors performances... K Spacey and J Knoxville are the first ones on my mind, also H Graham performed well. I usually get easily bored by movies, but now i was enjoying the whole 90 minutes (thanks for Spacey). With b-class actors i probably would have disliked the whole movie.

Plot isn't anything special, it has already been used -feeling. I would have hoped to see more of "Inventor"-aspect as there ain't many inventor movies. I think it's possible to make a lot entertainment out of it.

Nice little movie to watch if you don't want anything too serious but no mindless/dirty humour either. By the way this is my only IMDb review so far, i had the urge to write it because i felt so much difference to previous very negative review. This tells something about the movie, i don't usually want to "defend" the movies i like.

Don't listen to the critics who pan this movie. Yes, it is predictable, and obvious. But the movie doesn't preach, condescend, take itself (too) seriously, or take its precious time going somewhere. This is actually better than I expected. No question about it, "Father of Invention" is great entertainment, and very effective. You don't have to be a "genius" to enjoy this movie. I could have done without the subplot regarding Heather Graham's lesbian character. I didn't feel it was necessary. It's just a plot device. And I would have loved to see John Stamos a lot more. With an interesting character as his, that one scene wasn't enough. Although he is mentioned near the end of the film. If you're looking for a quality movie to watch (and enjoy Kevin Spacey), this is that movie.

***1/2

It's like Kevin Spacey is caught in some bad dream. Not worth your time. Watch something else.

Very modest comedy finds father (Spacey) released from gaol after ten years, trying to rebuild his life initially finding his wife has moved on, he seeks to reconnect with his now estranged adult daughter but first he must gain the trust of her quirky friends and prove that he now has his priorities in the right order.

Not really sure what prompted Spacey to make this cheesy daddy-daughter reunification comedy, it's more akin to something in which Steve Carell might star. He never really inhabits the role, and there's only so much the hobo makeup will convey about his character, as he continually fumbles his opportunities to redeem his character's once prosperous lifestyle.

The cast is better than the material, with underrated Heather Graham potentially the standout performance playing one of his daughter's more masculine (but secretly vulnerable) friends, and John Stamos pops up briefly as a business competitor late in the picture as Spacey's journey begins to come full circle.

So light it's barely funny at all, 'Father of Invention' is a massive miss considering its staggering $11m budget, ill-conceived and casually handled, there's nothing much to recommend.