Like Father Like Son

Like Father Like Son is a 1987 American fantasy-comedy film starring Dudley Moore and Kirk Cameron. Plot Chris Hammond is a high school senior. He likes a girl at school (Lori) who happens to be dating his rival and bully Rick. His father, Jack, is a very successful surgeon and working hard to get a promotion to the position of the chief of staff at his hospital. He also wants his son to become a doctor as well, but Chris is not interested. Chris has a friend, Clarence "Trigger", whose Uncle Earl had been bitten by a snake while in the desert. Earl had his leg fixed by Native Americans with a body-switching potion called the "Brain-Transference Serum". Trigger shows Chris how the Brain-Transference Serum works by trying it out on Chris' cat and dog, and the pets switch bodies. Trigger brought the Brain Transference Serum in a Tabasco sauce bottle, and the Hammond's housekeeper Phyllis finds the bottle and puts it in the food cupboard. Jack unwittingly puts it in his Bloody Mary. The serum works by someone ingesting it, then the next person that looks into their eyes switches bodies with them. As Jack looks into his son's eyes while having a disagreement over a C grade on an important test, the father and son switch bodies. Trigger states he will get in contact with his Uncle Earl in order to find a way for the two to switch back, but Earl has just left for another trip. Chris goes to town in his dad's body, using his dad's credit card to shop and party with Trigger along for the ride. He bumps into his dad's boss's wife while out in a bar, but he does not realize who she is. She comes on to him and he accepts. In the morning Jack in his son's body and Chris in his father's body woke up screaming and realize they are not dreaming. Jack is upset that Chris got drunk in his body and chews him out and tries to punish him for it. The next day Jack goes to school in Chris's place and Chris cannot leave the house or go to Jack's job. Chris called Jack's office to call in sick for a few days. Jack's boss Larry goes to Jack's house to check on him and sees him feeling better. Jack gets called in to work at the private hospital where his dad works, and he ends up handing out a bunch of pills to patients while doing rounds. He also seconds a motion proposed by his dad's colleague, suggesting that the hospital could treat patients with no insurance; in Chris' words, the hospital should "screw the insurance". Meanwhile, Jack has problems of his own in Chris' body.