BEST: ETHAN HAWKE IN BOYHOOD
He's funny, caring, and genuinely interested in his children's lives. Plus, he actually does a good job of navigating the awkward "talk," especially when he makes the point about how he wishes he could have been a better dad.
BEST: LIAM NEESON IN TAKEN
He may not know who you are or what you want. But what he does have are a very particular set of skills, skills that he's acquired over a very long career. If you let his daughter go immediately, you'll be okay. But if you don't.....
WORST: DARTH VADER IN THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK
He cut off his kid's arm and he's Darth Vader. Enough said.
BEST: ROBIN WILLIAMS IN MRS. DOUBTFIRE
He's so devoted to his kids, he made up a whole British grandmother persona just so he could see them every day by being their nanny. In the process, he actually became really good at parenting.
BEST: WILL SMITH IN THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS
"Don't ever let somebody tell you... you can't do something. Not even me. All right? You got a dream? You gotta protect it."
WORST: DANNY DEVITO IN MATILDA
"Listen, you little wiseacre. I'm smart, you're dumb. I'm big, you're little. I'm right, you're wrong. And there's nothing you can do about it!"
BEST: DUSTIN HOFFMAN IN KRAMER VS. KRAMER
"You know, I've had a lot of time to think about what it is it that makes somebody a good parent? You know, it has to do with constancy, it has to do with patience, it has to do with listening to him. It has to do with pretending to listen to him when you can't even listen anymore. It has to do with love, like, like, like she was saying. And I don't know where it's written that it says that a woman has a corner on that market, that, that a man has any less of those emotions than a woman does."
WORST: JACK NICHOLSON IN THE SHINING
Daddy's home. With an axe.
BEST: GEORGE CLOONEY IN THE DESCENDANTS
While coping with his wife's coma, he struggles to raise their two rebellious daughters. But when the eldest finally drops the bombshell that her mom had been cheating on him, it triggers the path to reconnecting with them.
HONORABLE MENTION: MARLON BRANDO IN THE GODFATHER
