User Reviews

If you watch this movie because it sounds like a great movie, you'll probably be disappointed. It's not great. It's not bad, either. It's okay.

If you watch this movie because you enjoy watching Kevin Spacey act, then you'll enjoy this flick. Spacey is that rare actor I can enjoy watching even in a bad movie...and lately some of his flicks haven't been that inspired. But, Spacey is a gem, even when the film isn't.

I rather enjoyed Camilla Belle as the daughter and Heather Graham and Anna Anissimova as her friends. John Stamos' part was so small as to be pathetic -- basically 1 scene. Johnny Knoxville did okay as the store manager. To be honest, I've never understood the attraction to Virginia Madsen as an actress, and I still don't. Among these supporting actors, the only one that stands out -- perhaps -- is Camilla Belle.

The plot? After Robert Axle (Spacey) goes to prison when one of his inventions maims many customers, he comes out after 8 years. Will he rebuild his reputation? It doesn't seem that way at first when he winds up as a rather unsuccessful custodian in a discount store...and gets fired. But, he finally gets a great idea and makes it a success. The bigger question is whether or not he will be successful in repairing his relationship with his daughter.

Unfortunately, the plot is beneath Kevin Spacey. But it's watchable, and of course, his acting is very watchable.

If you find yourself coming to IMDb for a sneak peek at your next movie outing, please remember this rule: reviewers who vote a film 8* or more, if they have only one, or two at the most, reviews posted .. are probably what the industry calls "sponsored reviewers" or, in layman's terms, "professional bullsh**ers".

Unfortunately Father of Invention is one of those titles that the parent studio feels needs sponsored reviews, as you can see for yourself if you browse the few reviews here on IMDb (just click on the Author's name in the review); the film isn't terrible, but apart from Kevin Spacey doing his best, there really isn't much of a story to keep it afloat.

Rober "Bob" Axel has just come out of jail for marketing a faulty product (whait, what? do corporation chairmen go to jail for that? this film must be set in a parallel universe where criminal charges apply differently than real-life US), and he has to start again from the bottom rung of society, trying to rebuild all he lost, including his family, car, friends, and all that upper-crust stuff. He fails.

That's about it for a pretty mediocre film, with a very diminutive script, truly awful supporting characters, middle of the road acting, and lacklustre direction; Spacey is good, but the constraints of a unimaginative ..everything .. leave him no space to shine.

Avoid this film if you can, there are too many boring and inconsequential filler scenes in it to make this an easy sit-through, even with friends. Instead, do go see something else out this week, like Soldier Spy, Machinegun Preacher, 50/50, 1911, Heavy Times, or the superb Drive. Anything really, but not this. Or Melancholia.

Final vote, 4/10. Pretty bad.

The whole premise had me scratching my head. Corporate executives do not go to prison due to liability on their products even if they deliberately produce a product that will harm people. Ford Motor company proved that with their exploding Pinto. So now Kevin Spacey spends 8 years in prison and his family never comes to see him? Once you get past that...and I never really did, we end up with a movie that has some good scenes connected by a bad plot.

I didn't like Heather Graham defining herself as a lesbian to strangers. That was so unreal and not funny. The negative relationships and feelings that were rampant against Kevin Spacey, was not believable. Kevin played a guy whose only fault was that he enjoyed his work. If you want a somewhat feel good comedy without f-bombs, sex, or nudity this one might fill in...but don't think too hard about it.

Wow, all the negative reviews on here babbling on and on about 'direction' and 'script' and so on, from a bunch of armchair quarterback directors. Most of these people have no background in film, for sure. It's not an easy thing to make a movie but certainly is easy to watch it in your living room and then look up a glossary of movie terms so you can slay it in the reviews. I like this film. It's not an epic, but it's not supposed to be. Good performances all around. A little humor and something to think about. Decently paced. I enjoyed it. Kevin Spacey is, as always, really good. Virginia Madsen, as always, was really good. The rest of the cast also did a great job.

FATHER OF INVENTION (2011) stars Kevin Spacey and I thought it might be really good, hilarious, but it was more than a bit corny and I got sick to death of that blonde saying 'I am a lesbian'. So what? It wasn't all that funny the first time she said it and it certainly didn't improve with repetition.

Robert Axle (Spacey) is a 'fabricator', not an inventor, he says. He puts things that already exist together into a new product but one of his fabrications severed fingers actually, and he ended up doing time in prison. When he got out, years later, all his hard earned millions had gone to the now ex-wife and her new husband,and to the injured via lawsuits. He was broke, jobless, homeless. And keeping down a regular job wasn't easy for him. He seemed to be disaster prone. Always in the wrong place at the wrong time mostly. And everywhere he went, trying to better himself, he bumped into people with severed fingers. His wife, living in the mansion he paid for,spending the money he earned, doesn't want to know about his problems. His daughter doesn't seem to care for him much either but she takes pity and he ends up sleeping on the couch in the home which she shares with two friends, one being the boring lesbian ('fraid so'). And so the story went.

It's not bad for a rainy afternoon when you have nothing better to do but my expectations tend to be high with Kevin Spacey. Still, not to worry, you can always play Scrabble or Chess and keep up with this plot at the same time.

OK I admit I always be loving me some Kevin Spacey and "Black Comedies".While this film pales as good comedy,its still good enough Spacey for me and thus the ONLY reason to see it.Infomercials are boring and silly and so are the people who make them.In some regards this film is a update of "The Jerk"in the sense that a guy has it all and loses it because of a bad product then gets it all back.Instead of being born a "poor black child" Spacey's Robert Axle is the common emotionally poor father.The rest of the cast are unimportant as their characters really mean nothing including Axle's daughter,played well enough by Camilla Belle.No,its the sharp ever scheming mind of Axle that matters and Spacey can do this sort of part very well,see "Casino Jack "as a example.Released in 2010 and running but 93 minutes,its for Spacey fans only as no one could really care about someone like Axle for real,or his pathetic life.

I don't know if Kevin Spacey made this atrocious movie because he lost a bet, or was simply doing someone a favor, but it CAN'T be for the quality of the script!

Spacey plays the character Robert Axle, a 'fabricator' who invented a hazardous product that landed him in prison for 10 years. After he gets out, he reconnects with his daughter who wants nothing to do with him, and ditsy ex-wife who has burnt through the fortune he left behind trying to record an album (although completely tone deaf, but nobody will tell her).

Axle cleans up his disheveled prison look (complete with a man bun), to 'fabricate' a successful child finder wristwatch, which completely redeems his career.

If my review sounds like a complete mess, than I have accurately captured the essence of this movie. It's hard to believe the genius behind 'American Beauty' and 'The Usual Suspects' had anything to do with this incredible waste of time. Gave a VERY generous 2* out of 10.

It is a movie that you can watch with your family. characters are well thought out. and you enjoy watching it. Kevin Spacey is as usual great and can make you smile several times. Main zest of the story is more than focused on invention. But is a love affair. it was a good time spent. Hollywood should come out with more movies with some character in it . Also i think these movies deserve more popularity then less material movies get now a days. For those who are criticizing this movie they must understand that the story has to fit in 2 hours so you cannot be entirely practical. it is a must watch for all. more of these kind of movies will make viewers more caring about their family .

This movie is so emotional and for no good reason. A guy went to prison because of a malfunctioning product, yet he was treated like a murderer. At first it was funny that he was such a loser for going to prison, then the act got old.

Robert Axle (Kevin Spacey) was an "As Seen on TV" product creator. One of his products was poorly made and severed the fingers of the more absentminded users. He was convicted of gross negligence and went to prison for eight years for the crime. I know that's not at all how that works, but it was necessary for the plot.

When he got out of prison he was about as welcomed by the world as the latest COVID variant. Even his own daughter hated him, yet he stayed with his daughter Claire (Camilla Belle) and her two roommates, Phoebe (Heather Graham) and Donna (Anna Anissimova), while he tried to get back in the "fabrication" game.

Claire was the forlorn daughter with daddy issues. Donna was the roommate who was a fan of Robert. And Phoebe was a violent bitter lesbian who inserted herself far too much into Claire's relationship with her dad, which I didn't think was funny at all. If she was supposed to be Claire's friend, why would she be seeking to create a bigger rift between her and her father? And what "friend" talks to their "friend's" father the way Phoebe did? It was childish, lowbrow, and a new kind of trashy. Phoebe was treating Robert like he was an ex-boyfriend she had to protect Claire from.

This movie was good when it steered away from being emotional and preachy, and frankly, whenever Phoebe was not on screen. But it fell into the same tired pattern that so many movies of this ilk fall into. Let me give you the formula:

On top. Fall from grace. Rebound, but never learning the real lesson. Realizing the real lesson.

And this movie in particular was the missing father kind, which are particularly galling to me because I have found that Hollywood hates working fathers. I don't even know how many movies I've seen with the successful dad who's hated by his family because he's never there.

Claire was royally upset with her father because he wasn't there for her. To me it made her selfish and childish, but for the purposes of this movie she was the victim. I think a better daughter--one who is adult enough--could've seen that her father went to prison for a mistake. A better daughter would've stayed in contact with her dad who was serving time, but Hollywood princess daughters pout, moan, sulk, and wait for their father's to come to them begging for forgiveness for trying to be the best fathers they can. Per Tinseltown we should be asking our children how to raise them.

Invariably, Robert rectified things with Claire by the end. He had been on his way to patching up their relationship when he tripped up. He stole the roommate Donna's identity and opened a credit card in her name. It could've been a small blip, but this movie made it into an earth shattering issue. He needed $5000 to make a prototype of his latest idea and no one would loan him the money. He opened a credit card in Donna's name, got $5000, and turned it into a $125,000 advance.

While Robert was ecstatic that he was back in the invention biz, he ran into three pitifully sad faces like they'd just witnessed a puppy being sacrificed. Claire and her two sidekicks were utterly distraught that Robert would steal Donna's identity. Granted, I'd be mad at that too, but once he said he had the money to fix it, then it would no longer be a problem. Or at least it would've no longer been a problem enough for me to cut my dad off completely.

So, right when things started going Robert's way he was back on the rocks with his daughter and it would take the classic speech digression to make things right. I'm sure you know the speech digression. That's when the protagonist is slated to give a certain speech, but midway through he has an epiphany then he digresses from the rehearsed speech to make it more personal and usually unrelated to what he's talking about. The slow piano music chimes in and the speech is heartfelt, then everyone cheers. It's such a ridiculous cliche, but "Father of Invention" had to have it.

This movie wasn't terrible, just old hat and by now I already get it. If a father is successful he should stop working so much and spend time with his kids. If a father is struggling, then he's a good father, even though a lot of blue collar dads work tons of hours too for the overtime, but blue collar fathers are off limits. I don't know when successful fathers became the enemy to Hollywood writers, but I'm saying that they need a new act.

I saw the screening of "Father Of Invention" yesterday on the Berlinale Festival 2010. I didn't had expectations besides the fact of being quite a Spacey fan for a long time... but this movie was hugely disappointing...

Good things first: Camilla Belle... Oh wow... :)... What a beauty... A great actress I wish seeing more regularly in future... She made every scene she was in...:)... I am in Love...^_^...

The filmed locations were beautiful (New Orleans, expeciately the shared apartment where the girls live...)...

Now the other things...

It is supposed to be a comedy, but be prepared for some boot-in-the-nuts humor... It may work if you want to relax and don't want to think too much about it, but: Jesus Christ on a Pogo Stick, how many times can you watch a male getting his balls bashed...?...

Some characters were flat as a balloon in a vacuum chamber (Donna...??...) and the Script partly ridiculous (Lesbian, that doesn't know whether she really is a lesbian, a make-daddy- look-less-like-a-hobo-makeover, countless felon bashing remarks, etc.)... It went on and on and on...

Don't get me wrong, the acting is pretty good, nothing remarkable or weep-worthy as one might "Suspect" from other Spacey Movies (;)...), but still well done... Good interaction between Axle, his wife and daughter (hilarious: The new Black Husband...)...

The worst thing about the script is definitely watching the Bob Axle getting his ass handed to him several times without bothering about it too much since he is a "convicted felon"... I mean, come on... This guy has invented something people were too stupid to use which caused a lot of mutilated fingers, etc. ... Because of this, he is avoided by everyone, cursed, discriminated... even assaulted... You can see people with mutilated fingers everywhere... His own daughter is treating him like garbage and what is he doing: Goofing around, trying to be "a good dad", failing hard at simple tasks... horrible... At the end he decides to "tell the uncomfortable truth" about the invention that is supposed to bring him back to former glory, still the product becomes a huge hit... What is the message behind all this...?...

3 of 10 stars from me, if you are an avid Spacey fan a must see, simply because it is so different to see him in a lighter role then usual... for all others: Only if you are okay with light (very light...) humor...