Movies: Parenthood

Ron Howard’s 1989 comedy stars Steve Martin, Mary Steenburgen and Jason Robards

This 1989 Universal Pictures comedy ensemble, directed by Ron Howard, is the basis for NBC’s series of the same name. Parenthood begins with the sounds of a baseball game. It’s a broad, general comedy about raising kids that’s built around comedian Steve Martin, who gained popularity, with some creative success, as a mainstream movie actor in the Eighties and early Nineties. Parenthood as a multi-generational story doesn’t completely come together, though it starts to set right at the end.