MOVIE REVIEW : Terrific ‘Dutch’ Develops Comedy Premise to the Max

“Dutch” (citywide) really ought to be called “Dutch & Doyle,” because this terrific comedy belongs as much to 13-year-old Ethan Randall (as Doyle) as it does to Ed O’Neill in the title role. Dutch is a hearty, unabashed blue-collar, self-made man, and Doyle could just be the snottiest rich kid in the world. They have nothing in common except that Dutch is in love with Doyle’s mother (JoBeth Williams), a divorcee.

Prolific writer-producer John Hughes, who has left the directing to “ ‘Crocodile’ Dundee’s” Peter Faiman, takes a fresh spin on the old “It Happened One Night” plot. Dutch picks up Doyle at his posh private school, figuring that the two of them can get to know each other on the drive back to Chicago for Thanksgiving. The idea is that the down-to-earth, free-spirited Dutch will shape up Doyle, much like Clark Gable’s breezy reporter took Claudette Colbert’s spoiled runaway heiress down a peg or two on the way back from Florida to New York.

Most kids will be able to figure out how “Dutch” will turn out as easily as their parents, but Hughes, Faiman and their wonderful cast make the getting there great fun. “Dutch” develops a good premise to the max. This means that the wild adventures Hughes thinks up for his extravagantly mismatched duo generate laughter and pathos as well. Doyle so identifies with his father (Christopher McDonald), who in fact neglects him, that he is bound to be repelled by Dutch’s uninhibited earthiness. At one point Hughes wisely lets Doyle go too far, causing the trashing of Dutch’s car, letting us feel the serious consequences of this adolescent’s rage at his isolation even as he sets the duo up for further adventures without transportation.

For a film that builds so well and is marked with a number of well staged and structured set pieces, both comic and serious, “Dutch” actually gets off to a fuzzy start.

Why would Doyle’s mother, a onetime car-hop, crash her hated former in-laws swanky party (with Dutch escorting her)?

Why doesn’t this likable, loving woman have principal custody of her son?

None of this fortunately matters much once the film is well under way.

While Hughes has supplied some fresh, sparkling dialogue and sharply defined roles for his actors, Faiman in turn draws the best from them. “Dutch” could be star-making for the craggy, rugged O’Neill, best known as Al Bundy in TV’s “Married . . . With Children.” O’Neill has that valuable gift of projecting warmth and strength, anchoring a truly zany sense of humor. Like little Mikki Allen in “Regarding Henry,” Randall is a child actor who can give every bit as as accomplished a performance as an adult but without the old-fashioned precociousness that marred youthful screen players in the past. You want to see more of Williams, but the film is really not her story. (You want to see more of Kathleen Freeman, too, as Williams’ folksy mother.)

The test of a good movie is the quality of its supporting performances. Ari Meyers and E.G. Daily couldn’t be better as a pair of hookers, one as unscrupulous as the other is gentle, who give Dutch and Doyle a lift. The same goes for L. Scott Caldwell as a poor but kindly woman through whom Doyle is able to recognize at last that he suffers from a different kind of poverty.

Cameraman Charles Minsky gives “Dutch” (rated PG-13 for some adult situations, discreetly presented), the same good, natural look he gave “Pretty Woman,” and Alan Silvestri’s mood-setting score is admirably unobtrusive.

‘Dutch’

Ed O’Neill: Dutch Dooley

Ethan Randall: Doyle Standish

JoBeth Williams: Natalie Standish

Christopher McDonald: Reed Standish

A 20th Century Fox presentation of a Hughes Entertainment production. Director Peter Faiman. Producers John Hughes, Richard Vane. Executive producer Tarquin Gotch. Screenplay Hughes. Cinematographer Charles Minsky. Editors Paul Hirsch, Adam Bernardi. Costumes Jennifer Parsons. Music Alan Silvestri. Production design Stan Jolley. Art directors Tracy Bousman, Chris Burian-Mohr. Set decorator Jackie Carr. Sound Stephan Von Hase. Running time: 1 hour, 45 minutes.

MPAA-rated PG-13 (some adult situations, discreetly presented).