The quest of a son or sons to find their father or their father's love has been touched upon from time to time in various forms and in recent years, and I'll be damned if I don't tear up whenever Kevin Costner asks his dead Dad to have a catch at the end of Field of Dreams. Some of these films take a funny tone to it, some don't, others take a couple of different tacts to try and get to that path.

Thus begets Father Figures. Written by Justin Malen in his feature debut (his first screenplay credit was as "Hongwen Mai" in the Chinese film Wished, but he wrote the film back in 2015) and directed by Lawrence Sher in his debut (after more than a decade of Director of Photography credits, more recently War Dogs), the film centers on Kyle (Owen Wilson, Wedding Crashers) and Peter (Ed Helms, The Hangover), fraternal twin brothers who are at their mother Helen's (Glenn Close, Guardians of the Galaxy) wedding to a new husband, and they want to find their real father, who they were told died before they were born, but as it turns out was a white lie from Helen. So the brothers go on the road to find Dad.

When Father Figures turns into a road movie is where things become a little erratic. This includes the performances, from the questionable (Terry Bradshaw?) to the kind of funny (J.K. Simmons as a tattooed repo man provided a couple of yucks to be clear). The first act or so gets to be a little muddled as they sort this stuff out, and they also try and go for laughs that fall short, or just in the wrong place. However, it evolves a tiny little bit into a slightly poignant search for the brothers for their respective emotional closures, moreso for Helms than anything else. Wilson's performance is one that could easily have been culled from other areas, but Helms does provide some laughs but shows a bit of range in an understated role for him. As with most road movies the people in the car tend to bristle with one another but there's a warming up on both sides, more from Peter clearly, and it's a pleasant surprise.

Also for a movie of this nature, there are a LOT of familiar faces in here, some get some things to do and others don't, and the decisions are strange both good and bad. Standup comedian Katt Williams plays a hitchhiker who the brothers think may kill them and he serves as an emotional pivot of sorts for the brothers in a key moment. Ving Rhames, Harry Shearer, Katie Aselton and Retta all have a moment or two onscreen, and while some of the time is just as nice of a surprise to watch unfold (Aselton specifically), others are underused, such as Shearer. It's like the movie means well when it talks, but couldn't get its complete thoughts together, so to speak.

There's a somewhat charming story underneath Father Figures which sadly does not get the chance to show itself as much as it could or should. If there were more focus placed on that earlier, rather than having to spend time going for inconsistent laughs or playing Ed Helms and Owen Wilson so much, it would have been a nice surprise. As it stands, it feels like a forgettable experience from all involved.

Hey speaking of Field of Dreams, cinematographer John Lindley handled shooting for Father Figures and the AVC encoded 2.40:1 high-definition presentation is really beautiful. The wider shots include lots of vibrant greens, a wide shot with a vivid lens flare that comes into frame and gently out nicely. Evening scenes have solid black levels with no issues and image detail is strong, whether it's facial pores or hair under a beach cabana, or clothing textures on a modest honeymoon. It all looks excellent.

DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless that is fine, but it doesn't get a lot to do. Bass from the car stereo pumps, dialogue is consistent through the film, but it doesn't get a lot of work in satellite channels. A train hitting a car brings the sonic pain so to speak, roaring through the theater, and someone getting hit by a car sounds clean as can be, but otherwise the Blu-ray does what the soundtrack gives it the material for.

Not really all that much, 10 deleted scenes (21:09) include some expositional stuff on the prospective fathers and some backstory to the brothers as kids, and a gag reel (4:26) includes an ad lib from Williams that runs about half of that and is pretty good.

There are small moments of enjoyment in Father Figures when the cast go beyond some of their usual work, and dive into a little bit of more emotional heartstring-tugging. You have to overcome your eyes rolling at a joke or two (and some people in this film that perhaps have reconsidered what they were doing there), but it's there and it's kind of good. If you want to go through those weeds it's a brief reward, though sadly it's just that. It's worth a look if you're intensely curious.