Dad's Day (2002 Video) User Reviews

A cute, funny little film

[drhowarddrfine · 6/10 · 13 January 2004]

This is a funny little independent film with a nice concept. It's Dad's day at school and you have to bring your dad in to tell your classmates what he does at work, but, your Dad is an Elvis impersonator.

The acting is good with many funny lines and scenes. This could have been something along the lines of "School of Rock" if it was longer and had good distribution.

A very good independent film

[sundancer77_99 · 10/10 · 23 May 2005]

I not much into independent films. but this a must see. The movie is actually based on actually events pertaining to a actor in the movie who experienced almost the same exact events with a Elvis impersonator dad and his child. The guy in the movie who plays Edward J Kelley or E as everyone calls him, is played by Steve Davis. Metero st Louis most popular Elvis impersonator. I am real good friends with him. i viewed this film and was completely impressed. There was tons of funny parts but also some heartwarming scenes between father and son. But there is a motto to the film. Always be yourself. If you are unsure about this film take my word for it. it is worth seeing. my parents saw the film and they were impressed with the film.

Perhaps the worst movie ever made.

[Cappomutato · 1/10 · 12 June 2004]

Where to start? The incredibly horrible writing? The insanely bad acting? Even the scoring is terrible. The only saving grace of this movie is that it is mercifully short, coming in at just under 45 minutes.

The movie begins with a pointless dream sequence featuring Michelle Montgomery playing a completely unconvincing "Athena". She clumsily rides a horse over to save Aaron (he's just laying there... maybe she's saving him from dying of exposure, eventually). She clumsily puts aside her sword, which she handles as she would a giant banana, and comes to his side. The dream sequence ends and Aaron wakes up. Despite many cuts to an "Athena" poster throughout the movie, the opening sequence serves no purpose. It's clear that they intended to tie Aaron's imagination to his father's, but they failed miserably.

Steve Davis, a great real-life Elvis impersonator, plays Edward J. Kelly... an Elvis impersonator. The entire show is a flaccid build-up to Ed Kelly's appearance at his son's grade school. Aaron Kelly, Ed's son, tells one shallow lie after another on his way to school in an effort to keep his dad from coming to class and to explain his dad's absence. Ed makes his appearance in class, complete with a dream sequence Elvis show, and Aaron runs off. Ed catches Aaron along the side of the road and has a shallow heart-to-heart, with the aid of two police officers. It ends soon after, as Ed sends Aaron back to school. Does Aaron learn anything? Not really. For a movie that purports to be about a kid coming to grips with his dad's profession, and the embarrassment that it causes him, it falls completely flat. It ends where it should begin.

Jessica Campbell (Election, Freaks and Geeks) is completely wasted as the friend of Aaron's sister. She, and other far less talented actors, move into and out of the movie for no reason. For example, there is a guy who pulls up in front of Aaron's house as Aaron looks for his bicycle (by far, the most painful scene of the movie). He speaks in lousy Italian as his daughter translates. His daughter has a crush on Aaron, as does many of the girls-- another completely unexplored connection to his father that the film makers probably thought themselves quite clever to toss in.

I'm sad to say that this is a St. Louis shot and produced movie, using pretty much all local "talent". It would be a shame if the film industry saw this as in any way representative of what this city is capable of producing. Hopefully the industry will look at films like The Big Brass Ring (1999) rather than this after school special wannabe.

If you get a chance to see this movie, consider taking a nap instead.

A ten-year old boy is embarrassed about his father coming to his school to speak to his class on Dad's Day.

[tvtv3 · 4/10 · 14 March 2009]

DAD'S DAY is a short film (about 39 minutes) about a 5th grade boy, named Aaron Kelly, who is embarrassed about his father coming to speak to his class at Dad's Day. Dad's Day is a day that the students' fathers speak about their professions and Aaron's dad makes his living as an Elvis Presley impersonator.

The movie was filmed on location in and around the St. Louis area and features an all local cast. The story is actually based off an incident from the life of Steve Davis, the man who plays Aaron's father, "E", in the movie. In real life, Steve makes his living as an Elvis performer and growing up his daughter became embarrassed at one point about his occupation.

As a short film, DAD'S DAY is an okay movie. There are glimpses of good acting scattered throughout the movie. There's a good dosage of humor, mostly well-placed but some jokes and gags that really have no point. There's also an opening dream sequence that is supposed to illustrate a parallel between the imagination of Aaron and his father's imagination, but the connection isn't ever made and the sequence seems grossly out of place.

I watched this film with my parents and siblings because of someone we know who was in the movie. My parents and most of my siblings really enjoyed the film. I laughed more than I thought I would and found myself admiring some of the secondary performers. Still, there were several sections of dialogue that made me cringe and certain sections that I thought were unnecessary and slowed the tempo of the film far too much. DAD'S DAY isn't a terrible picture, but it's not a great movie either. It's basically what you would expect from a low-budget, local short film.

If you can find a copy of this movie on DVD, be sure to watch the special features that explain how the movie came about and how it was filmed. It's actually more interesting than many bigger budget featurettes I've watched.