The fulcrum of the film is Martin. It's an adventurous and successful stroke of casting that takes advantage of what the audience expects from him.

This movie has its share of laughs, but it's also Ron Howard's most personal film, and clearly his most ambitious.

Parenthood easily could have focused exclusively on yuppie parents and their kids; however, the script by Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel is more sophisticated than that, remembering that every parent is still a child too.

This is not just a wild and crazy comedy. This is a slice of life -- contemporary Americana.