You could technically accuse all of these people for being terrible and great to their kids. Even Larry has a tiny saving grace next to his obvious huge faults - he knew he'd be a terrible parent and that his kid would be much better off with the grandparents.
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Hey, as Nate Huffner (Moranis) would (probably) say to his kid - there can be only one at the top. :)
shareLarry only brought Cool there so he could dump him. He didn't want to be a parent.
shareWorst-
Larry and Dr. Lampkin
Moderately crummy- Grandpa
the rest were all doing the best they could do
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^ Totally agree with you on just about everything.
Dr. Lampkin was way worse than any of them in my book. Larry was irresponsible and selfish, but at least didn't have any malicious intent. Julie & Gary's dad was perfectly within his means to at least financially and emotionally support his previous kids, even if he didn't live with them and had a new family. I hate guys like that, he just moved on and pretended like they didn't exist. I don't blame Gary for smashing up the lowlife's office with a hammer.
I feel really bad for Helen. Both the kids were giving her grief at the same time, and the father took no responsibility at all. What a *beep* dad Ed was! I think even Larry might have come back again and done something for Cool, but that @$$hole was a total deadbeat. Nathan was also very over the top with his obsession with making Patty a genius, but I hope he calmed down after Susan realised how extreme he was and finally put her foot down.
Intelligence and purity.
Yea Larry wasn't the best father but he did take care if Cool up until the grandparents did. Of course, he thought they would make a better life for Cool.
shareYou also have to remember Frank was distant to Gil, Susan, and Helen, so he coddled Larry a little bit more. As he said to Gil, "I hated you" for having polio, not because he didn't love his son, but the pain was too tough for him to handle.
Snoopy is one cool cat...although he's a dog.
Honestly, I thought Nathan was the worst for a while. I understand that he wants Patty to have a good life, but there's a way to do it while letting her be a little girl. After watching it several more times, I find it hard to like Nathan completely, but he does at least make a better effort to ease up.
Snoopy is one cool cat...although he's a dog.
With the exception of Larry they were all good parents deep down.
Maybe in the end Larry wasn't so bad. If he didn't love his little boy I guess you could argue he would have taken him on the road to South America.
You could also argue that in S.A. he'd then at least be with his kid and take some form of responsibility for him. Nature (stay with your biological parents) vs nurture (stay with the provider that can give you the most) I guess.
shareI agree that taking him would have shown some responsibility but he had responsibility for him and it wasn't working.
In the end even though he should have taken that responsibility, I think he did the right thing. He was never going to change. At least Cool had a chance with the grandparents.
Again, true, but this way he doesn't ever have to change. He gives all of his responsibility away and in a way by doing so gives up on his kid for good. It's someone else's problem now. If the kid was still with him, the guy would still be under pressure to turn the page at some point. Now, he's free to be a jerk forever (or until his luck runs out as it tends to). He'll probably come back at some point in the future to borrow money from his kid, just like he did with his folks and family.
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