Mr. Mom

Mr. Mom is a 1983 American comedy film directed by Stan Dragoti and written by John Hughes about a stay-at-home dad. It stars Michael Keaton, Teri Garr, Jeffrey Tambor, Ann Jillian, Christopher Lloyd and Martin Mull.

Plot

Living with his wife, Caroline, and their three children, Alex, Kenny, and Megan, in a suburb of Detroit, Michigan, during the early 1980s recession, Jack Butler and his two friends, Larry and Stan, lose their engineering jobs at the Ford Motor Company. Caroline, having been a housewife for years, utilizes her college education and prior experience working in advertising prior to having children to re-enter the workforce, leaving Jack to deal with new and bewildering responsibilities of being a stay-at-home dad.

Jack discovers that childcare and house maintenance is a complex juggling act and his initial struggles in daily errands gains the attention and company of other neighborhood housewives. Eventually, he hits his stride and although somewhat distracted by the flirtatious Joan (a neighbor and friend of Caroline's), as well as the banal, senseless plot-lines of daytime soap operas, he begins to feel confined by domestic life. Simultaneously, he feels threatened by Caroline's responsibilities and work-life as a fast climbing ad executive.

Mr.

Mister, usually written in its abbreviated form Mr. (US) or Mr (US & UK), is a commonly-used English honorific for men under the rank of knighthood. The title derived from earlier forms of master, as the equivalent female titles Mrs, Miss, and Ms all derived from earlier forms of mistress. Master is sometimes still used as an honorific for boys and young men, but its use is increasingly uncommon.

The modern plural form is Misters, although its usual formal abbreviation Messrs(.) derives from use of the French title messieurs in the 18th century.Messieurs is the plural of monsieur (originally mon sieur, "my lord"), formed by declining both of its constituent parts separately.

Historic etiquette

Historically, mister—like Sir or my lord—was applied only to those above one's own status in the peerage. This understanding is now obsolete, as it was gradually expanded as a mark of respect to those of equal status and then to all gentlemen. It is now used indiscriminately.

In past centuries, Mr was used with a first name to distinguish among family members who might otherwise be confused in conversation: Mr Doe would be the eldest present; younger brothers or cousins were then referred to as Mr Richard Doe and Mr William Doe and so on. Such usage survived longer in family-owned business or when domestic servants were referring to adult male family members with the same surname: "Mr Robert and Mr Richard will be out this evening, but Mr Edward is dining in," but such usage today is rare in American culture but still quite common in others as a sign of respect when first names are being used, the last name is not known, or where English is not the mother tongue.

Michael Keaton

Michael John Douglas (born September 5, 1951), better known by his stage name Michael Keaton, is an American actor. He is currently a visiting scholar at Carnegie Mellon University. Keaton first rose to fame for his comedic film roles in Night Shift (1982), Mr. Mom (1983), Johnny Dangerously (1984), and Beetlejuice (1988), and he earned further acclaim for his dramatic portrayal of Bruce Wayne / Batman in Tim Burton's Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992). Since then, he has appeared in a variety of films ranging from dramas and romantic comedies to thriller and action films, such as Clean and Sober (1988), The Dream Team (1989), Pacific Heights (1990), Much Ado About Nothing (1993), My Life (1993), The Paper (1994), Multiplicity (1996), Jackie Brown (1997), The Other Guys (2010), Need for Speed (2014), and RoboCop (2014), and he also provided voices for characters in the animated films Cars (2006), Toy Story 3 (2010), and Minions (2015).

Keaton's critically praised lead performance in Birdman (2014) earned him a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy, the Critics' Choice Award for Best Actor, and a nomination for a Screen Actors Guild Award, British Academy Film Award, and Academy Award for Best Actor. He previously received a Golden Globe nomination for his performance in Live from Baghdad (2002) and a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for The Company (2007). Keaton was awarded a Career Achievement Award from both the Hollywood Film Festival and Zurich Film Festivals.

Teri Garr

Terry Ann "Teri" Garr (born December 11, 1947) is an American actress, comedienne, dancer and voice artist. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the 1982 film Tootsie. Her other film roles include Young Frankenstein (1974); Oh, God! (1977); Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977); The Black Stallion (1979); Mr. Mom (1983) and After Hours (1985). She also appeared as Phoebe Abbott in three episodes of the sitcom Friends (1997–98).

Early life

Garr was born in Lakewood, Ohio. Her father, Eddie Garr (born Edward Leo Gonnoud), was a vaudeville performer, comedian, and actor whose career peaked when he briefly took over the lead role in the Broadway drama Tobacco Road. He changed his surname before Teri's birth. Her mother, Phyllis Lind (née Emma Schmotzer), was a dancer, a Rockette, wardrobe mistress, and model. Her father was of Irish descent and her maternal grandparents were Austrian immigrants.

Career

Early in her career she was credited as Terri Garr, Terry Garr, Teri Hope, or Terry Carr. Her movie debut was as an extra in A Swingin' Affair (1963). At the end of her senior year in high school (at Magnificat High School) she auditioned for the cast of the Los Angeles road company production of West Side Story, where she met one of the most important people in her early career, David Winters, who became her friend, her dance teacher, and her mentor and cast her in many of his early movies and projects.

Martin Mull

Martin Eugene Mull (born August 18, 1943) is an American actor who has appeared in many television and film roles. He is also a comedian, painter, and recording artist. As an actor, he first became known in his role on Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman and its spin-off Fernwood 2 Night. Among his other notable roles are Colonel Mustard in the 1985 film Clue, Leon Carp on Roseanne, Willard Kraft on Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, and Russell the pharmacist on the hit sitcom Two and a Half Men.

Early years and education

Mull was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Betty, an actress and director, and Harold Mull, a carpenter. He moved with his family to North Ridgeville, Ohio, when he was two years old. They stayed there until he was 15 years old, when his family moved to New Canaan, Connecticut, where he attended and graduated from public high school. He studied painting and went on to graduate from the Rhode Island School of Design with a Bachelor of Fine Arts and a Master of Fine Arts in painting.