Why Hollywood’s ‘Nobody’ is every father today



If you’re old enough, you remember Clark Griswold — Chevy Chase’s bumbling but optimistic dad in “National Lampoon’s Vacation” — dragging his family across the country to reach Wally World. After a trail of disasters, Clark got his family to the gates, only to find the theme park closed. Undeterred, he improvised, fought back (in his slapstick way), and refused to give up on his promise to deliver joy.

Fast-forward to today. Warning: This article includes spoilers.

'Nobody 2' isn’t really about bullets and bloodshed. It’s about fathers who refuse to quit.

In “Nobody 2,” we meet Hutch (Bob Odenkirk), a far cry from Clark Griswold. Think “Vacation” meets “John Wick.” Hutch is a quiet father under siege by a world that won’t leave him alone. He struggles to shield his family not only from criminals but also from the toll the fight takes on his time and soul.

So Hutch does what Clark did: He plans a family trip, hoping to reclaim some peace. Instead, everything explodes — literally. A sadistic crime boss, a brutal syndicate, and one gut-wrenching moment when a security guard strikes his daughter. Hutch erupts, not for revenge, but to protect the people he loves most.

Fathers against a hostile culture

That arc — from Clark’s comedy of errors to Hutch’s bloody brawls — tells us something about our culture. In 1983, dads were goofs trying to make memories. In 2025, they’re embattled guardians. The father who simply wants to provide and protect finds himself waging war against a culture that derides family, treats children as disposable or designable, and mocks traditional marriage as oppressive.

The threats aren’t just cinematic. Fathers fight mountains of bills, debt, and cultural poison pumped daily into their children’s minds — DEI’s racial grievance, the LGBTQ+ lobby’s sex radicalism, and a constant drumbeat that undermines fatherhood itself.

Men are told they’re helpless. But they’re not. A father’s job is to lead his family toward the good life, armed with truth and love.

The 'nobody' every man

Hutch is called a “nobody” because that’s how the world sees him — the quiet everyman doing his duty, not chasing glory. But that’s exactly what makes him extraordinary. He embodies what fathers have always wanted: the best for their children and the enduring love of their wives.

The emotional heart of the film comes when Hutch tells his father, “I just want my son to be a better man than I am.” That is fatherhood distilled. We know our limits, we know our failures, and we want our sons to rise higher.

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Photo by Joe Maher/Getty Images

And here’s the twist feminists won’t like. The final villain — a shriveled old woman who embodies bitter family-hatred — isn’t defeated by Hutch. She’s finished off by his wife, Becca (Connie Nielsen). Far from sidelined, she stands as his partner, the helper he needs to secure a future for their children.

Better men

It’s all metaphor, maybe allegory. “Nobody 2” isn’t really about bullets and bloodshed. It’s about fathers who refuse to quit. Men who insist that their families are worth everything. Husbands who know their sons can and must be better men.

The Griswolds made us laugh four decades ago. Hutch forces us to face what’s at stake today for fathers.

Dads: Want to leave a legacy for your kids? Focus on living like this.



Too many children in America are growing up without a father. Sadly, even when there is a father in the home, although he is physically present, he is often emotionally absent.

On this Father’s Day, I want to reflect upon a simple premise: To leave a legacy, you must live a legacy.

None of us will ever get everything right. But we can choose to be faithful even when we mess up.

Leaving a legacy for your kids is certainly important, but the emphasis of scripture is living a legacy. If we’re going to pass our faith along, we must first possess our faith. Fathers must confess their faith openly while also living it and walking in purity and integrity.

Little eyes are watching you, Dad. There’s no place in our lives for the stain of moral impurity or the lack of integrity. We need to be setting the highest possible standards for our lives, not seeing how close to sin we can get without being burned.

So much about being a father is about being the leader of the home.

Consider the questions:

  • How are you living?
  • What kind of leader are you?

If you are a follower of Christ, you’ll be living right and you’ll be the right kind of leader in your family, in your community, and your church.

A man who pursues integrity and follows Christ in His holiness and purity is a godly father who can faithfully lead his family in truth.

Following Jesus means humbling yourself enough to admit when you're wrong. Maybe you've lost your temper, been distracted and disengaged at home, or ignored what God’s been nudging you to confront. Leading well starts with being led — by Christ.

It’s about more than clocking a few distracted minutes with your kids each day. It’s about living a life they can watch and imitate. Can they see that you follow Jesus — not because you say it, but because it’s obvious in the way you live?

That’s the kind of legacy that matters.

None of us will ever get everything right. But we can choose to be faithful even when we mess up.

Sons need to see a dad who doesn’t just talk about values but actively pursues Christ. Daughters need to see their father love their mother with the same faithfulness and sacrifice Christ showed His church.

Dads, your children don’t need a perfect father. They need a present one. They need a praying one, and they need a passionate one. They don’t need a weekend warrior or a distant provider. They need someone who’s following Jesus and letting Jesus lead him every day.

If we do that — if we stay close to Christ — we won’t just leave a legacy. We’ll live one. Right here, right now, in our homes, in our churches, and in the hearts of the children who are watching us every day.

As we consider the significance of Father’s Day, let’s make it our lifelong goal to be faithful in God’s eyes — and not just be successful by the world’s standards.

In the end, we may never be the smartest, richest, or most accomplished men in the room. But we can be the fathers our children need and the followers Christ has called us to be.

How strong fathers shatter a poisonous narrative about manhood — one child at a time



“Boys will be boys.”

I know this because I have two of them — and I’m still one at heart. Give me a cardboard tube, and it quickly becomes a sword or a lightsaber (complete with sound effects). My sons do the same. My daughter? Not so much.

Fatherhood matters — not just sentimentally, but statistically.

But beneath the innocent play and imaginary battles lies something deeper, something wired into the heart of every man: the call to provide and protect.

It’s a calling that many men feel innately, but tragically, our culture has done all it can to distract from this responsibility and delay the transition to true manhood. Worse still, modern messaging often reshapes manhood into a version that previous generations wouldn’t even recognize: one of detachment, passivity, or perpetual adolescence.

Nowhere is this more evident than when an unexpected pregnancy enters the picture.

Too often, fathers are overlooked or written off as irrelevant to the decision-making process, either by societal expectation or personal retreat. But at thousands of pregnancy help organizations across the country, that narrative is changing. These centers are not only supporting women. They are increasingly reaching out to men as well, challenging them to rise to the occasion and embrace fatherhood.

In fact, in the past two years alone, programming specifically designed for men at pregnancy help centers has grown by 6%. It’s a quiet but powerful shift, one that recognizes that helping women also means equipping and encouraging men to be the dads they were created to be.

Why does this matter? Because children benefit when fathers are present and engaged.

According to research compiled by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, children with involved fathers are more likely to do well in school, have healthy self-esteem, and avoid high-risk behaviors. Studies show that children with involved fathers are 43% more likely to earn A’s in school and 33% less likely to repeat a grade. Another study found that children with present fathers are significantly less likely to suffer from depression or engage in criminal activity.

Fatherhood matters — not just sentimentally, but statistically.

And yet the narrative of modern America too often casts men as optional or even unwelcome in conversations about parenting and family formation. If we want to change the outcomes for the next generation, we must change that mindset.

We need a culture that encourages men to step up — not step back.

That’s why many of us working in the pregnancy help movement have taken up the mantle of being a “dadvocate” — someone who sees the value in reaching men, even when they seem disinterested or discouraged. We believe that just as women deserve support and hope, so do the men who helped create a new life. Whether they choose to engage or not, we trust that something greater is at work: a call deep within them to be part of their children’s story.

In a world increasingly confused about manhood, fatherhood, and family, perhaps the best gift we can give this Father’s Day is a renewed recognition of the vital role dads play — and the encouragement they need to step into that role with confidence and purpose.

Let’s build a culture that welcomes fathers, equips them, and celebrates the irreplaceable part they play. For the sake of every child and every generation to come.

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LeBron’s toughest opponent yet? Fatherhood



The public feud between Stephen A. Smith and LeBron James shows no signs of dying down after the ESPN personality recently went on a popular basketball podcast to talk about his confrontation with the NBA superstar.

Smith claims LeBron confronted him during a Lakers home game over criticism directed at his son Bronny. Smith maintained, however, that his criticism has always been about LeBron’s role in getting his son into the league.

Bronny needs what every man in a highly competitive field desires: respect.

It is easy to understand why LeBron was upset. He has been the face of the NBA for the better part of 20 years. He is a four-time champion, and many believe he is the greatest basketball player of all time. He has never been in trouble with the law and has maintained a public image as a solid family man throughout his career. Playing on the same team as his son was clearly an important career goal, especially considering he grew up without his father.

One of life’s most valuable lessons is that experiencing scarcity in childhood often drives indulgence in adulthood. For example, people who become successful after growing up poor often give their kids all the toys, clothes, and gifts they didn’t receive. Most people understand this impulse, but that doesn’t change the reality that children who get everything they want can quickly become spoiled and entitled. Parents sometimes make well-intentioned decisions that stunt the development of their children.

Bronny’s challenge

LeBron’s place in NBA history is cemented, but the same cannot be said for his son.

Bronny needs what every man in a highly competitive field desires: respect. It is the one thing his father’s wealth cannot buy. It also cannot be secured through social pressure, coercion, or intimidation. Not even “King James” can bequeath the legacy he’s built in the NBA to his oldest son.

Respect must be earned through a person’s hard work and accomplishment. Without it, Bronny will spend his entire career fighting the perception he’s a privileged kid who took someone’s roster spot. His opponents will use that narrative to get under his skin and try their hardest to embarrass him on the court.

No one is rooting against Bronny, but his path to the league and Lakers leaves sports journalists no choice but to talk about his game and the role his father played in securing him a spot on the roster. It’s hard enough to make the transition to the NBA after one year of college for once-in-a-generation players with physical gifts like Zion Williamson. It’s even harder to make the case that a freshman who averaged five points a game at USC is ready for the professional game.

Parental instincts

But this issue is bigger than basketball. Talking about the confrontation between LeBron James and Stephen A. Smith makes for entertaining content, but this entire situation is really about the relationship between fathers and sons.

Sons begin emulating their fathers at a young age. They wear their clothes and mimic their mannerisms. As they get older, some boys go even further by attempting to walk in their father’s professional footsteps. It’s difficult enough for the average kid to do this successfully. The challenge is amplified exponentially when your father is a global icon who has been at the top of his profession for decades.

LeBron and Bronny should’ve sat down with Denzel Washington and his son John David to discuss the challenges of being a son in a superstar father’s shadow. Professional sports and acting are not the same, but Denzel probably would have been criticized if he had pulled his son out of a small community theater where he struggled to memorize his lines and demanded that he receive a role on Broadway.

The elder Washington knows his name and reputation carry a lot of weight. He also likely knows that publicly pulling strings to help his son when it’s clear he is not ready for the big stage would do more harm than good. That’s because men must learn how to stand on their own two feet, which means the parental instinct to protect a child — even when he’s an adult — must be balanced with age-appropriate encouragement toward independence. Children learn this at a young age, which is why they'll eventually turn to their parents and say, “I’ve got this, Mom,” or, “I can do it, Dad.”

The pursuit of independence is the unofficial rite of passage into manhood. Anyone or anything — regardless of how well-intentioned — that interrupts that pursuit does a young man a disservice. No father wants to see his son struggle needlessly, but part of raising children is understanding the role obstacles play in building character.

LeBron James has reigned over the NBA for 20 years, but Bronny will never feel like a king as long as he is treated like a privileged prince in constant need of protection.

Elon’s baby-mama drama exposes the right’s pro-family hypocrisy



It’s only a matter of time before Elon Musk goes from the face of tech support to the poster boy for child support. The billionaire owner of X (formerly Twitter) is currently embroiled in some serious baby-mama drama with Ashley St. Clair, the conservative influencer who claims to be the mother of his 13th child.

St. Clair caused quite a stir late last week when she used the social media platform owned by Musk to announce she had his baby five months ago. She claimed she went public because a reporter was planning to do so — against her wishes — and ended her statement by asking the media to honor her privacy. The New York Post published an exclusive interview the next day about her “whirlwind romance” with the billionaire.

The belief that a man’s bank account can replace his presence in the home ignores a fundamental truth: Fatherhood is about more than money.

The relationship between St. Clair and Musk is a private matter, but the response to her announcement from conservatives says a lot about the state of pro-family discourse on the right.

Several congratulated St. Clair, 26, on her new baby. It’s easy to see why pro-life activists and influencers on the right would celebrate the birth of a new baby. Children are a blessing from God, regardless of the circumstances of their conception.

Acknowledging that reality is important in a society that determines the worth of babies by how wanted they are by their mothers. If the mom-to-be is excited to be pregnant, the baby is a “bundle of joy.” But if she doesn’t want the child, then the same life at the same stage of development is called a “clump of cells” that can be destroyed at the nearest abortion clinic.

No one disputes the inherent worth of every child. But when conservatives congratulate adults who intentionally create broken homes, they undermine their pro-family bona fides.

It is difficult for an influential figure to publicly celebrate a child in this circumstance without appearing to endorse the parents’ decisions. Consider this: If a Republican politician known for his strong pro-life stance announced that he was expecting a baby with his mistress and planned to divorce his wife of 25 years, how would his conservative allies react? It’s unlikely they would take to social media to offer their blessings.

The response to St. Clair highlights a stark contrast between what many conservatives claim to support — intact, two-parent families raising children — and the culture they reinforce through their public affirmations.

Musk has had more than a dozen children with four women. He’s previously stated that “a collapsing birth rate is the biggest danger civilization faces by far.” He is a pro-natalist with the mindset of Malcolm X. He wants more babies to be born — by any means necessary.

His views align closely with pro-life Christians, the most socially conservative faction of the Republican Party. But a pro-baby movement that ignores the benefits of a married mother and father is hardly “conservative.”

Stripping marriage from the family formation equation paves the way for commercial surrogacy, unregulated IVF, and same-sex adoption. This shift has consequences.

Today, 40% of American children are born to unmarried parents, and one in four grows up in a single-mother household. For years, conservatives have lamented the breakdown of the black family, where 70% of children are born out of wedlock. They have correctly linked this crisis to the cycle of multigenerational poverty that plagues many inner cities.

Their analysis has never been limited to economic security. Every time a multimillionaire entertainer like Nick Cannon or an athlete like Cam Newton announces a new baby, social commentators predictably criticize their lack of commitment, the consequences of broken homes, and the argument that children need presence over presents.

Yet, when the father in question is a billionaire with ties to the most beloved Republican president since Ronald Reagan, some right-wing commentators suddenly apply a different set of rules.

One conservative commentator made his standard crystal clear:

Pretending that what happens far too often in the black community — getting knocked up by brokeys and bringing into the world children that have to be raised on the taxpayer dime — is similar to procreating with a billionaire is intellectually dishonest.

I responded online, pointing out that his argument only makes sense if a father’s primary role in the home is financial. This assumption has driven left-wing thinking for decades.

Progressives often respond to discussions about family structure by calling for more social spending. To many liberals, a father in the home is nice to have but not necessary, as long as government programs support low-income single mothers.

Apparently, some on the right share the left’s low view of men. Only partisan tribalism could justify the belief that a child is better off with a wealthy, conservative-friendly father who won’t acknowledge them, sees them sporadically, and refuses to commit to their mother.

Children need more than financial support. They thrive with a father’s affection, protection, direction, and correction — things a man juggling a dozen children across multiple states cannot possibly provide consistently.

The belief that a man’s bank account can replace his presence in the home ignores a fundamental truth: Fatherhood is about more than money.

Marriage establishes the duties and obligations husbands and wives have toward each other — not just their financial responsibilities to a child. Men need women, women need men, and children need both parents. The best way to meet those needs is within a loving, low-conflict household where a married mother and father are committed to each other and their children.

Despite what some conservatives may believe, a child raised in that environment is far more privileged than one with a wealthy but absent dad.