MOVIES: JAMES FRANCO’S 7 SMART WAYS TO LIVE IN TODAY’S HIGHLY-WIRED LANDSCAPE IN “WHY HIM?”

James Franco stars as Silicon Valley billionaire Laird Mayhew, a self-made young man whose life was spent writing codes and designing apps, leaving him clueless about how to read a room and appropriately modulate his behavior in the uproarious R-rated family comedy “Why Him?”

Laird’s social skills are completely acceptable to his girlfriend Stephanie (Zoey Deutch) and to the millennial circle he belongs, but does not sit well with Stephanie’s dad, Ned (Bryan Cranston).  Ned, a small-town father, owner of a struggling mid-sized printing business in Michigan, is complete opposites with Laird who is making billions in the digital realm.

During Ned’s 55th birthday party, Stephanie joins the event via Skype to send well wishes to her dad from her Stanford dorm room. The Flemings and their party guests are surprised by an unexpected (and naked) introduction to her new boyfriend Laird…or at least a part of him. Distraught over the fact that Stephanie has uncharacteristically been hiding something from him, Ned begrudgingly agrees to travel with the family to spend the holidays in California to meet his daughter's first serious boyfriend.  Ned, along with his wife Barb (Megan Mullally) and son Scotty (Griffin Gluck) experience what it’s like to live in the eco-friendly home of a Silicon Valley billionaire:

1. Laird’s sprawling hipster estate in Palo Alto is as minimalist as it can get for more space to move around.

2. Meals served are from lawn-to-table.  His house is surrounded with hectares of lawns where he keeps an array of animals, trees and vegetables.

3. The expansive “smart house” is completely paperless, bathrooms included.

MOVIES: AWARD-WINNING BRYAN CRANSTON IN R-RATED FAMILY MOVIE “WHY HIM”

America’s number one comedy movie for three consecutive weeks, “Why Him?” finally arrives in Philippine theatres on February 1 with an R-13 rating by the local censors board.  It’s check-the-boyfriend and impress-the-dad in this endearing family comedy starring James Franco, Bryan Cranston, Megan Mullally, Zoey Deutch and Griffin Gluck.

“Why Him?” brings Ned Fleming (Cranston) to the world of millennials when he decides to visit her daughter at her dorm over the holidays.   But even before that, life becomes a little more complicated for Ned during his 55th birthday party when Stephanie joins the event via Skype to send well wishes to her dad from her Stanford dorm room. The Flemings and their party guests are surprised by an unexpected (and naked) introduction to her new boyfriend…or at least a part of him. Distraught over the fact that Stephanie has uncharacteristically been hiding something from him, Ned begrudgingly agrees to travel with the family to spend the holidays in California to meet his daughter's first serious boyfriend Laird (Franco). 

Cranston, himself a father could relate to Ned’s struggle and his reluctance to let go in “Why Him?”   Ned is a good man motivated by a deep commitment to his daughter—and Laird is just not what he had in mind as a potential son-in-law. “It’s tough as a dad to see your child grow up and become an adult,” he says. “You’ve been responsible for them all of their lives and are expected to voluntarily let go of that grip and away they go.”