Like Father Like Son (1987)

Chris Hammond (Kirk Cameron) struggles in class. He has a crush on self- obsessed Lori Beaumont despite her giant boyfriend. His best friend Trigger (Sean Astin)'s uncle Earl is working on a brain transference serum derived from a native American potion. Chris and his father Dr. Jack Hammond (Dudley Moore) accidentally take it and switch bodies. Jack is a head hospital surgeon. Dr. Amy Larkin (Catherine Hicks) is a crusader working under him. His boss Dr. Larry Armbruster has flirtatious wife Ginnie (Margaret Colin). Father and son have to live with the switch until they can find uncle Earl.The characters are not that appealing and the story has nothing new. It's all rather bland and unlikeable. Chris is not nice and his taste is rather superficial in all aspects. Trigger is even worst. They should have gone all out as wild crazy guys although I doubt Cameron is capable. Jack is not much better and borders on boring. Switching from one unappealing character to the other does nothing to make it good. It definitely does not make it funny. The father letting the son work at the hospital amounts to callous malpractice. It's bad mindless writing. This is actually anti-funny.

In the late 1980s there were several body swap teen comedies that emerged in a short space of time. Tom Hanks in Big was the big one and the others were judged against it.Like Father Like Son is a likable comedy but drastically lacks a plot, wastes some of its actors and seems to be a series of sketches.Kirk Cameron plays a high school teenager who with the aid of a Native Indian portion mixes his mind with his brilliant surgeon father, Dudley Moore.Now its Moore who acts as the kid and Cameron goes to school with his adult know how which irritates the other students and his best friend, Sean Astin.They both have to get used to their new bodies, Moore has to navigate a promotion but upsets his hospital boss by siding with a colleague to offer medicine to those without insurance and fooling around with his wife.Moore is in his element when he is having fun as a teenager and Cameron is very good as the more uptight one after the body swap, maybe he was just being himself!Patrick O'Neal and Catherine Hicks are rather wasted in this very 1980s comedy. Its sporadically funny and mildly enjoyable.

I personally liked this film and really compare it to a similar comedy I enjoyed called "Vice Versa" where father and son exchanged places to create a very similar scenario. There was a lot to like about this movie and think the ratings overall for whomever saw this movie were disappointing to me but this is life. I gave this 8 out of 10 stars and deserving. The acting was pretty good for this type of comedy where Daddy is a doctor and his son has to take on his role as they exchange places for a day or so.Dudley Moore as a doctor is very humorous and his son trying to take on his normal roles as doctor is hilarious.I really like these kinds of comedies and hope to see more similar in the future. Dudley really didn't act in a whole lot of movies I really enjoyed but this is one of them. Give it a try...think anybody who hasn't seen this movie will surprisingly like it despite ratings:)

Im not too sure about what the last reviewer was expecting to see...Citizen Kane? This was a great lighthearted comedy from the time I was graduating high school that anyone born in the late 60s-early 70's will enjoy. You will love the cornball fashion from the big 80's as well as the big hair. I thought they put a interesting plot in the freaky Friday theme using the brain transference juice. Also, Dudley Moore did an excellent job right after the switch acting like a freaked out 17 year old in a 47 year old's body. And of course, the comedy ensues as both struggle to jump into the others life, one in high school and the other at the hospital as chief surgeon. So if you want to come home and have a drink and relax and watch a lighthearted comedy from when you were in high school and remember the old days, this is definitely the movie for you.