My Father, the Hero MPAA Rating: PG Entertainment: +3 Content: -1/2

Middle-aged divorcee Andre (Gerard Depardieu) returns to New York from France to take his 14-year-old daughter Nicole (Katherine Heigl) on a vacation to the Bahamas. Nicole is bored until she meets Ben (Dalton James), the boy of her dreams. To appear more mature, Nicole lies to Ben and the other hotel guests, telling them that Andre is her lover, not her father. By the time she tells her father about her deceit, Ben and others believe that Andre was once a secret agent who climbed Mount Everest and is dying of heart disease. Andre reluctantly agrees to go along with the lies in order to protect his "little girl." When Nicole shows interest in a member of a reggae band, Andre says that his daughter "can't date a musician until all the other men in the world are dead." One highlight is a hair-raising water skiing sequence through the Bahama's reefs and harbors. Nicole's lying becomes tedious and predictable; the subplot of Andre's relationship with his girlfriend Isabell carries the audience interest. This light, fluffy comedy is a thirty minute premise stretched into ninety. But Mr. Depardieu shows a fine sense of comedic timing.

Nicole experiences firsthand that once you tell a lie, you have to come up with bigger lies to protect the first. Although MY FATHER carries a PG rating, it is more suited to a PG-13 audience, both in its objectionable material and its more adult themes. Objectionable language includes one obscenity and one regular profanity, along with one sexual double-entendre. The male guests leer at the young girl, wondering how the middle-aged Andre won over such a beautiful young woman companion. Nicole, physically mature for her age, struts through a scene in a thong bikini that borders on rear nudity. There are implied sexual relations between a musician and an island girl, with no nudity. Somewhat disturbing is the observation that Nicole's yearning for a romantic relationship is "what every girl from 14 to 70 wants." Fourteen is a bit young, but what can you expect from Hollywood which would argue, "come on, this is the nineties." On the positive side, the focus is on relationships, and the film's at its best when it deals with Andre's paternal love for his daughter. The characters also learn important lessons about honesty and forgiveness. However, MY FATHER is not appropriate for younger children because of its language and more adult themes.

Preview Reviewer: Pete Zimowski
Distributor: Buena Vista, 3900 W. Alameda Ave., Burbank, CA 91521