Parental Guidance

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Parental Guidance

PG

2012

1h 44m

Kids & Family

Comedy

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

18%

Tomatometer

89 Reviews

59%

Popcornmeter

50,000+ Ratings

Minor-league baseball announcer Artie Decker (Billy Crystal) and his wife, Diane (Bette Midler), get to see their only child, Alice (Marisa Tomei), very seldom. To their surprise, Alice and her husband (Tom Everett Scott) ask them to watch their children so they can embark on a trip for work. It promises to be a fun time for all, until the three young ones turn out to be quite a handful for this old-fashioned couple. Artie and Diane may need to bend the rules to make everyone happy in the end.

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Critics Consensus

Parental Guidance is sweet but milquetoast, an inoffensive trifle that's blandly predictable.

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J. Hoberman

Tablet

May 5, 2016

A strong candidate for the worst movie I've seen all year.

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Leah Churner

Austin Chronicle

Jan 4, 2013

2/5

Poor Crystal. There remains a scintilla of dignity in his sad clown. He may beatbox while wearing wraparound sunglasses, but, thankfully for you and yours, he does not dance the robot.

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Ben Sachs

Chicago Reader

Jan 3, 2013

This grating family comedy resembles a sitcom in its flat lighting, patronizing music cues, and frames supplying little visual information apart from the actors' mugging faces.

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Richard Propes

TheIndependentCritic.com

Sep 19, 2020

3.0/4.0

A simple family film that should prove appealing to multi-generation families looking for a film the whole family will enjoy this holiday season.

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Stefan Pape

CineVue

Feb 7, 2019

2/5

Parental Guidance is simply not very funny, which given its attempt to incorporate constant humour, poses quite the problem.

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Sarah Gopaul

Digital Journal

Oct 22, 2018

It's definitely a feel good movie, making it the perfect family friendly holiday pick - just remember not to grumble when it doesn't offer any more than that.

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Blake C

@BlakeC Sep 10, 2026

I started a physical media collection and picked this up at the local DG. It’s a fun movie and I enjoyed it.

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Stephen C

@bob25009 Mar 18, 2026

Funny in 1 hour and 44 minutes. A success on home media.

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Richard S

@RT11092035 Nov 7, 2025

Professional critics have the same problem as restaurant critics. The film people see too many movies and the food people eat too many meals .To raise their eyebrows, they need something they have not experienced before and since that rarely occurs, they drop the hammer in their reviews. This movie was funny and entertaining to me. It was wonderful in its simplicity with very well known actors drawing smiles and chuckles from me with their one liners. Just my two cents and for me the tomatoes were ripe and not rotten with this production.

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Rosana B

@RosanaBotafogo Feb 16, 2025

Gostei da abordagem, embora extrema, mostra a geração mais nova tendo uma educação positiva e saudável, embora o filme tenha sido uma crítica a ambas as gerações de pais, demonstrada exageradamente e muito divertida, a crítica especializada negativou, porem considerei adorável, grande parte se deve ao carisma dos avós (Billy Crystal e Bette Midler) e a fofurinha das crianças... Divertido, saudável, critico, motivador e anticoncepcional (embora em ame crianças fofinhas)...

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Emilliano Jr S

@emill_santos Jul 28, 2023

Overall, this movie need guidance.

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Jul 5, 2022

if you are parent from Generation X you will totally understand this movie... Very Good movie to watch with your preteen..

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Andy Fickman

Director

Billy Crystal

Artie Decker

Bette Midler

Diane Decker

Tom Everett Scott

Phil Simmons

Bailee Madison

Harper Simmons

Joshua Rush

Turner Simmons

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Synopsis

Minor-league baseball announcer Artie Decker (Billy Crystal) and his wife, Diane (Bette Midler), get to see their only child, Alice (Marisa Tomei), very seldom. To their surprise, Alice and her husband (Tom Everett Scott) ask them to watch their children so they can embark on a trip for work. It promises to be a fun time for all, until the three young ones turn out to be quite a handful for this old-fashioned couple. Artie and Diane may need to bend the rules to make everyone happy in the end.

Director: Andy Fickman
Producer: Billy Crystal, Peter Chernin, Dylan Clark
Screenwriter: Lisa Addario, Joe Syracuse
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Production Co: Face Productions, Chernin Entertainment
Rating: PG (Some Rude Humor)
Genre: Kids & Family, Comedy
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 25, 2012, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Jul 18, 2013
Box Office (Gross USA): $77.3M
Runtime: 1h 44m
Sound Mix: Datasat, Dolby, SDDS

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