Mr. Mom came out over 40 years ago, which is enough time to forget Michael Keaton has already done a lot of this before we sit down to watch “Goodrich”, which arrives on Max this weekend, with Keaton still solid enough to carry the concept, despite the lame tropes of modern movies.

Keaton indeed plays the title character, and is once again a dad on his own, after his wife leaves him and goes to rehab, leaving him with their two young children, and a very pregnant daughter from a first marriage, played here wonderfully by Mila Kunis.

The thing about Michael Keaton is that he’s always been relatable enough to take on these roles and make us like him. He does that here as well. But the credit in “Goodrich” should go to Kunis, who actually gets a lot of acting “meat” to feast on, as the expecting daughter watching her dad struggle with her much younger siblings, and still missing on an important lessons of fatherhood that she picked up before he did. It’s awesome watching them trade lines. In fact, it’s the best part of the movie. We also get a “Multiplicity” reunion between Keaton and Andie MacDowell, who also appears.

But, modern Hollywood has to force its way in here. And many of the characters are typical “LA types”, that come across as more pretentious than they need to be for the sake of comic relief, even though there is plenty of substance to render it unneeded. We also get a couple of storylines thrown inflate the run time, even though it would have been even better at 90 minutes instead of 115.

Still, Goodrich is just good enough to deserve a watch if you’re a fan of Keaton, or want to observe Kunis giving us a strong performance that is among her best.

Goodrich

Grade: C+