Father Hood MPAA Rating: PG-13 Entertainment: +3 Content: -1 1/2

In Los Angeles, fast-living, law-breaking Jack Charles (Patrick Swayze) is planning to go to New Orleans and get in on a money heist with an old buddy. The last thing he wants is to be bothered by his two abandoned children who are in a Los Angeles juvenile home. But his young teenage daughter, Kelly (Sabrina Lloyd), pleads with him to get her out of the home because the children are being mistreated. He isn't moved until he sees his seven year old son, Eddie, in hand cuffs. He forcibly kidnaps Eddie and he and the two children take off for New Orleans with the police on their trail. They find themselves in one tight spot after another as the police continue to hound them. Jack steals autos and food and together they speed down desert highways, barely eluding the police on several occasions. In a grand finale, they race down a bayou in Louisiana with a police helicopter in pursuit. All the while, a reporter in Los Angeles, is trying to get Jack to return and help convict the officials at the juvenile home. Will Jack return and will he become a better father? The audience is kept guessing in this fun and exciting film.

For a PG-13 film, FATHER HOOD has less offensive language than most, but does contain a number of crudities, some obscenities and one profanity. Refreshingly, it has no sexual content and only one mildly suggestive description of a woman's legs. Jack's stealing, destruction of autos and defiance of the police is portrayed as comical and exciting, but he eventfully has to pay for his misdeeds. Jack plays rough with the police and other opponents and, in an intense chase scene, his buddy is shot by some mobsters and his car plunges into a Louisiana bay. Most of all, though, Jack is drawn closer to his children during their adventures and it appears he is destined to do a better job of being a father. FATHER HOOD has some very positive messages, but foul language occurs often enough to significantly damage its acceptability.

Preview Reviewer: John Evans
Distributor: Buena Vista Distribution Co., 3900 W. Alameda Ave., Burbank, CA 91521