Borat 2006
The original. Amanda wonders whether it's now a 2006 cultural artifact that doesn't speak to 2020 the way it once did.
The Big Picture · Discussion · Top Five · Roundtable · Interview
Top Five Movie Dads
October 2, 2020/ 88 min/ Sean Fennessey · Amanda Dobbins
Sean and Amanda skip the guest slot up top and just talk fathers: dueling top-five movie-dad lists, then documentarian Kirsten Johnson (and her actual dad, on the phone) on 'Dick Johnson Is Dead.'
27 films across 5 segments.
AI-generated This episode was transcribed and analyzed with AI models. The matches aren't perfect — expect the occasional misheard title or a link to the wrong film.
Movie newsbefore the dad talk: a Lion King sequel, another Borat, and a movie about making 'The Godfather'
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm 2020
Sacha Baron Cohen's surprise sequel, arriving in 22 days, timed suspiciously close to his Oscar campaign for 'The Trial of the Chicago 7.'
The Trial of the Chicago 7 2020
Cohen's other fall release, playing Abbie Hoffman; on the show's docket for a couple weeks out.
Irresistible 2020
Jon Stewart's satire, which Amanda rated poorly on her brand-new Letterboxd profile, prompting the whole 'is Borat also dated now' question.
Francis and the Godfather
Barry Levinson's just-announced (not-yet-made) film about the Coppola/Robert Evans clash behind 'The Godfather,' with Oscar Isaac as Coppola and Jake Gyllenhaal as Evans.
Amanda's Top Five Movie Dadsmostly fathers of daughters, ranked best to worst
No. 1
Father of the Bride 1991
No. 1. George Banks (Steve Martin). A personal pick going back to watching it on VHS with her own dad around age eight; the airport phone call and the growing-up montage still get her every time.
No. 2
25th Hour 2002
No. 2. James Brogan (Brian Cox). Her one pick that isn't about a daughter: the closing monologue, imagining a different life for his son, is the scene she can barely get through without crying.
No. 3
A Star Is Born 2018
No. 3. Lorenzo (Andrew Dice Clay), Ally's father and, unofficially, her manager. A deliberately funny inclusion given who's playing him, but the actual scene work is sincere.
No. 4
Bad Boys II 2003
No. 4. Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence), specifically the 'Who the fuck are you?' scene grilling his daughter Megan's date, Reggie. Protective, but also the one talking Will Smith's character down.
No. 5
Easy A 2010
No. 5. Dill Penderghast (Stanley Tucci), the permissive, unshockable dad to Olive (Emma Stone). Amanda calls him and Patricia Clarkson's character the movie's great underrated parents.
Sean's Top Five Movie Dadsranked in ascending order of goodness, bad dad to great dad, on purpose
No. 1
Boyz n the Hood 1991
No. 1. Furious Styles (Laurence Fishburne), raising Tre (Cuba Gooding Jr.) with a clear-eyed political education most movie dads never attempt. Sean's pick for the closest thing to an ultimate movie dad.
No. 2
Kramer vs. Kramer 1979
No. 2. Ted Kramer (Dustin Hoffman), a single dad by necessity. Sean thinks the film has aged into something still honest about the day-to-day work of parenting, dated sexual politics and all.
No. 3
Finding Nemo 2003
No. 3. Marlin (Albert Brooks), a dad in peril searching for his lost son. Sean calls it the Bambi of its generation, tragic opening included.
No. 4
National Lampoon's Vacation 1983
No. 4. Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase), a bumbling, hopeful, occasionally felonious dad across the whole franchise. Sean rewatched all four over the preceding week. (Christmas Vacation was the one on repeat in Amanda's house growing up.)
No. 5
The Royal Tenenbaums 2001
No. 5. Royal Tenenbaum (Gene Hackman), the selfish-egotist type Sean reads as a filmmaker working out frustration with his own father. Paired as a bonus mention with Bernard Berkman (Jeff Daniels) in 'The Squid and the Whale,' a similar character from an Anderson collaborator.
Honorable mentions considered, cut, or disqualified
Picked by Sean Fennessey
The Lion King 1994
The James Earl Jones original, pre-loaded on his honorable-mentions list before the Barry Jenkins sequel news even broke.
Picked by Sean Fennessey
Return of the Jedi 1983
Darth Vader, considered and passed over: 'not really investing the way he should,' redeemed only when he throws the Emperor down a shaft.
Picked by Sean Fennessey
Armageddon 1998
Honorable mention because he dies saving the world, though Amanda notes he also brings his daughter's boyfriend along on the mission that kills him.
Picked by Sean Fennessey
Mrs. Doubtfire 1993
The obvious omission both hosts pointedly disqualify: impersonating a nanny to see your kids during a divorce reads as deranged, not devoted.
Picked by Sean Fennessey
The Shining 1980
Jack Torrance, filed under destructive fathers, not really a contender.
Picked by Amanda Dobbins
Jaws 1975
Martin Brody, the one she's wistful about cutting. Risks his life on the boat but is, at root, trying to protect his family.
Picked by Amanda Dobbins
Moneyball 2011
A late add for divorced-dad etiquette: polite to the ex's new boyfriend, asks the right questions about a kid's first cell phone, moved to tears by a guitar-store performance.
Picked by Amanda Dobbins
Sleepless in Seattle 1993
Considered for Tom Hanks, a dad also trying to find love again.
Picked by Amanda Dobbins
The Pursuit of Happyness 2006
Considered for Will Smith, though she admits she didn't rewatch it in time and isn't sure she loves the film even if she loves what he does in it.
In conversationher dad even calls in partway through
Kirsten Johnson on
Dick Johnson Is Dead 2020
Her documentary about her father's dementia, staging his death (and resurrection) on camera repeatedly. New on Netflix the day of taping; uses slow motion in the fictional set pieces to stretch out her father's fleeting moments of lucidity.
Kirsten Johnson on
Cameraperson 2016
Her prior film, an archival essay built from decades of footage she shot for other documentaries. She says it taught her cinema could 'bring my mother back to life,' which led directly to this one.
Kirsten Johnson on
The Father 2020
Anthony Hopkins's dementia drama, which Sean saw back-to-back with 'Dick Johnson Is Dead' at Sundance. Both agree it's the more emotionally 'safe' version of the same subject: unlike Dick Johnson, Anthony Hopkins is still fine at the end.
Also mentioned raised along the way
The Netflix awards-season slate Da 5 BloodsHillbilly ElegyMankThe Midnight SkyMa Rainey's Black BottomNomadlandOver the MoonCrip Camp
In passing The GodfatherBlack PantherNo Time to DieSoul
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
TV Who Is America?I May Destroy You
Games FIFA World Cup Launch Edition
Ads CarvanaBoar's HeadQuaker