Family-Friendly Comedy ‘The War with Grandpa’ Features Palisadian Cheech Marin

By SARAH SHMERLING | Editor-in-Chief

For those looking for a family-friendly comedy, “The War with Grandpa,” featuring Palisadian Cheech Marin, might just fit the ticket.

The film, directed by Tim Hill, is based on the eponymous novel penned by Robert Kimmel Smith. A young boy, Peter (Oakes Felgey), schemes to get his grandfather Ed (Robert De Niro) to move out of his room after Ed moves in with his daughter’s family.

Peter plots a series of “outrageous pranks,” including swapping out shaving cream with foam sealant and a game of dodgeball, to get Ed to move out, but Ed and his friends fight back, with Marin playing the role of Danny and Christopher Walken as Jerry.

“Soon, the friendly combatants are engaged in an all-out war with side-splitting consequences,” a film synopsis reports.

Other starring roles include Uma Thurman as Ed’s daughter Sally Decker, Rob Riggle as his son-in-law Arthur Decker and Laura Marano as his granddaughter Mia Decker.

The film was written by Tom J. Astle and Matt Ember, and produced by Phillip Glasser, Marvin Peart and Rosa Morris Peart.

First reviews deem the film “genuinely funny” and “smartly written.”

“The feelgood film is essentially about a grandfather re-structuring his life around his daughter’s home, with the ‘war’ with the grandson serving as the core conflict,” according to Subhash Jha for IWMBuzz. “It’s all harmless fun with oodles of goofy laughter and innocuous digs at the question of ownership that frequently causes a rift in joint families.”

“The War with Grandpa” was originally set to release on February 23, 2018, but was pushed back several times. In June 2020, 101 Studios reportedly acquired distribution rights and set it for a September 18 release date, which was finally pushed back to October.

Honorary Mayor of the Palisades Eugene Levy was reported to have a role in the film as well, but his name is absent from the list of cast and crew on IMDb as well as the trailer.

The film, which has been rated PG, is set to be released on October 9 by 101 Studios and Brookdale Studios.