‘Man of the House’ Often Surpasses Its Limitations

“Man of the House” is a serious comedy that works better when it’s serious. It cuts to the heart of a contemporary phenomenon all too familiar to countless youngsters, that of having to adjust to a stepparent or to a parent’s lover. An understated Chevy Chase couldn’t be better as a fearless Seattle-based federal prosecutor who faces his greatest challenge trying to win over the 11-year-old son (Jonathan Taylor Thomas) of his girlfriend (Farrah Fawcett).

Thomas’ Ben has had his adoring mother all to himself for five years, and at his adolescent stage the boy’s jealousy of Chase’s Jack Sturges is completely understandable. It’s further complicated by Ben’s unconscious fear that if he does become attached to Jack that Sturges may walk out on him and his mother, just as his own father did.

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Director James Orr and his co-writers develop the difficult but evolving relationship between the man and the boy credibly, and this helps sustain the film throughout. Despite its considerable wide appeal, “Man of the House” could be a better film on several counts. The key problem is that Ben has been conceived as your typical tough-talking, quick-on-the-uptake Hollywood brat; Thomas is clearly a capable actor, but the way in which director Orr and his co-writers have conceived his role, Thomas’ Ben seems too often synthetic instead of sympathetic.

Not helping matters is that Fawcett’s Sandy, as level-headed and fair-minded as she is presented to be, seems to have failed to prepare Ben for Jack moving in with them, with the idea of eventual marriage if everything works out. You’d have thought that she would have taken pains to see that Ben and Jack got to know each other before planning for Jack to move in--and, when he does, to make it clear up front that she and Jack would be sharing the same bed.

There’s a false rather than funny ring to the adults dutifully going along, at least initially, with the boy’s insistence that his mother and her lover sleep in separate rooms. The filmmakers are on much firmer comic ground in working in a couple of klutzy routines for Chase and making him a target for an underworld reprisal for having sent up a big-time gangster.

Looking gorgeous and still possessing the toothiest smile in the world, Fawcett is likable as a woman trying hard to be fair to both son and lover, and George Wendt is a real asset, bringing the film warmth and humor as a down-to-earth guy who sees Jack through the perils of Indian Guides with Ben. “Man of the House” has its moments--but it could have used more of them.

* MPAA rating: PG, for mild thematic elements. Times guidelines: The main story line involves a single mother whose boyfriend moves in with her, but there are no scenes of sex or violence.

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‘Man of the House’

Chevy Chase: Jack Sturges

Farrah Fawcett: Sandra Archer

Jonathan Taylor: Thomas Ben Archer

George Wendt: Chet Bronski

A Walt Disney Pictures presentation. Director James Orr. Producers Bonnie Bruckheimer, Marty Katz. Executive producer Margaret South. Screenplay by Orr & Jim Cruickshank from a story by David Peckinpah and Richard Jefferies. Cinematographer Jamie Anderson. Editor Harry Keramidas. Costumes Tom Bronson. Music Mark Mancina. Production designer Lawrence G. Paull. Art director David Willson. Set decorator Rose Marie McSherry. 1 hour, 37 minutes.

* In general release throughout Southern California.