Tim Allen has made a career out of playing an affable family man. Both in his TV series Home Improvement and his popular franchise of Santa Claus films, Allen is best known as a well-meaning Dad. However, in director Howard Michael Gould’s The Six Wives of Henry LeFay, Allen steps outside his usual image to play a guy who is not only a poor father but the worst husband since Henry the Eighth.
Henry (Allen) has been divorced four times and had one annulment. He’s currently on his sixth marriage and planning to leave his ditzy young wife for an even younger girl (one whom his daughter used to baby-sit.) He rarely even gets through a honeymoon before he begins his infidelities. He is always apologetic about his cheating ways but never genuinely remorseful. And despite that fact that one woman will never be enough for him, he can’t be without a wife for long because he gets lonely having no one to come home to.
His wives all have a tenuous relationship with him. Wife number one (Andie McDowell) tolerates him politely. Two and four (Jenna Elfman) is the same woman, who alternately lusts after him and tries to ‘Bobbitt’ him with a kitchen knife. Wife number three (Paz Vaga) is his business partner who argues with him about every aspect of the company’s functions. His adoring newest wife is oblivious to Henry’s sexual proclivities.
The core of the movie, however, is about Henry’s relationship with his pretty daughter Barbie (Elisha Cuthbert of 24). Barbie has tried several times to wash her hands of her dad because he keeps messing up his life and turning to her for help. But no matter how often she tries to cut him out of her life, she is always pulled back by another plea for help. Sometimes the call for assistance is phony, such as when Henry fakes a motorcycle accident to dupe Barbara into coming to see him. Barbie hates having to act like a mother to her immature father. Additionally, her relationship with him makes her reluctant to commit to her loving boyfriend, no matter how many times he proposes to her.
Despite the rotten way he uses her, Henry does seem to genuinely love his daughter. In an unguarded moment, talking to a stranger, he comments “If there was one thing in my life I could fix, it’d be my relationship with my daughter”. Unfortunately, he can’t control his self-destructive tendencies and Barbie is the only one he can turn to, which infuriates her.
When Henry is announced dead after a papa-sailing incident, the bevy of spouses and Barbie gather for a funeral. As you might expect, all hell breaks loose when the posse of wives--past, present and almost-future--are collected in one place. They argue over the burial, since Henry left different funeral instructions with each of his exes. They argue over his company, since the current wife claims her slice of the business which wife number three now wants to run alone. One of the wives steals the body for a cremation. The frustrated Barbie tries to hold the whole chaotic mess together and bury her dad with the dignity he was never able to maintain in life. However, Henry has one more surprise for them.
Despite how dishonest and immature his character is, Allen’s trademark affability shines through and he manages to make Henry somewhat likable. You can understand what drew all the women to him. Even the way he appeals to his daughter using the song “Blue Skies” makes him seem as charming as he is manipulative.
The biggest surprise here is Elisha Cuthbert as the much put-upon Barbie. She holds her own with the talented cast of veteran actors and shows a surprising gift for delivering comic lines. This is probably her best performance in her short career so far.
The Six Wives of Henry LeFay is a throwback to the classic “screwball comedies” of the thirties, except for the nudity. Most of the characters are weird and wacky in some way. And at the heart of it all stands Barbie, as the calm in the heart of the farcical storm. Cuthbert does a good job and her scenes with Tim Allen are both touching and funny.
DVD Bonus Features
There are no extra features on this DVD.
"The Six Wives of Henry LeFay" is on sale October 19, 2010 and is rated PG13. Comedy. Directed by Howard Michael Gould. Written by Howard MIchael Gould. Starring Andie Macdowell, Elisha Cuthbert, Jenna Elfman, Paz Vega, Tim Allen.
