Trivia / Getting Even with Dad

• Box Office Bomb: Budget, $30 million. Box office, $18,869,594.
• Creator Killer: This film was one of several writing jobs in 1994 that was received poorly by critics, which led to co-writer Jim Jennewein's cinematic career dying by the end of the year.
• Follow the Leader: After Home Alone. Getting Even With Dad was an attempt to rehash the hugely successful Home Alone formula of a small child outwitting a collection of supercilious adults. There is even a Shout-Out when Timmy finds himself alone in his dad's apartment. It didn't work, partly because Culkin was no longer an innocent 8 year old, but a rather less endearing adolescent know-it-all (he turned 13 during filming).
• Real Life Writes the Hairstyle: Macaulay Culkin was supposed to have a short haircut in this movie, but Culkin, who had let his hair grow at the time, liked his looks and did not want to cut it. His father, Kit Culkin, demanded his son be allowed to keep his hair the way it was, pointing out that his character was a working-class boy and not a clean-cut, prep school one. He got to keep his long hair.
• Star-Derailing Role: Macaulay Culkin was amidst a downturn following The Good Son in 1993, which got bad reviews despite being a box office hit. This movie, his first release in 1994, was even more reviled and bombed at the box office (a portent of worse luck coming). After the releases of the just as hated The Pagemaster and Richie Rich that same year too, Culkin quit acting for a while.
• Technology Marches On:
  • Ray refuses to answer the phone because he doesn't want to risk answering a call from his ex, and as a result he never answers when his sister calls to ask to take care of his son and doesn't know about this until she shows up. Nowadays, his phone would most likely have caller ID (and could probably block phone calls from his ex).
  • Bobby and Ray previously did time for stealing Betamax players, and Bob complains that they should have stolen something more valuable like VCRs. He also notes that even the judge laughed at them.
• Throw It In!: Saul Rubinek really was hit in the face by a bat during the scene at the stadium. The director liked his realistic reaction, so they left it in.
• What Could Have Been: Tim Allen, Kevin Costner, Harrison Ford, Mel Gibson, Tom Hanks, Michael Keaton, Bill Murray, Kurt Russell, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Patrick Swayze and Bruce Willis were considered for Ray Gleason.

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