
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, February 5, 1994                   TAG: 9402080072
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: C-12   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By MIKE MAYO CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

`MY FATHER, THE HERO' IS A SILLY LOSER

"My Father, the Hero" is a labored little comedy that begins with a dubious premise and then slides steadily downhill. What would you expect of a Disney remake of a French sex comedy?

Divorced dad Andre (Gerard Depardieu) takes his nubile 14- year-daughter Nicole (Katherine Heigl) on vacation in the Bahamas. Apparently in the grip of an adolescent hormonal hurricane, she's subject to wide mood swings and unpredictable behavior.

That's why she tells Ben (Dalton James), the first cute boy she meets, that Andre is her lover.

It's only part of an elaborate fiction she creates for herself, and before long, everyone else at the resort thinks that Andre is a cradle-robbing lout.

That's just the kind of situation that might have been puffed up into an airy Gallic farce, and perhaps it was in the original. But the script by Francis Veber and Charlie Peters soon degenerates into silly routines of half-hearted physical comedy. Director Steve Miner does nothing to elevate the material. This kind of comedy depends on a sustained frivolous mood, and the film never comes close.

Though Depardieu is his usual engaging self, there's little he or anyone could have done with this poorly written role. Katherine Heigl seems far too poised and self-possessed for a confused 14-year-old. But considering the context, that's probably for the best.

My Father, the Hero * 1/2

A Touchstone release playing at the Salem Valley 8. 90 min. Rated PG for subject matter.

by CNB