8 best calls to Dad in the movies to celebrate Father’s Day

This Father’s Day, we want to celebrate all the times we call our dads. We call when we miss them, when we hear how their favorite team did this past weekend, when we need advice or even just to call to ask if we really need that oil change (the answer is always yes).

Calls to your dad can be a part of a daily routine, and it can be easy to take them for granted, but they have meaningful impacts. Not only do we know this from our daily lives, but also from the movies.

Movies are filled with great dads and great moments of fatherly love. As Father’s Day approaches this Sunday, June 16, let’s take a look at some of the best phone calls with movie dads.

1. Ant-Man and the Wasp

Was it really an emergency call to dad?

In the 2018 movie Ant-Man and the Wasp, there is a classic phone call scene that both parents and teenagers will recognize. While Scott Lang is being held captive, his phone starts lighting up with multiple 911 text messages from his daughter. Then seconds later when she calls, Lang is worried that something serious might be wrong.

Striving to always be there for his family, Lang convinces his captor to allow him to answer the call from his daughter. But when they talk, he finds out that the emergency is not what he expected.

Lang says to his daughter, “Cassie, are you okay? What’s the emergency?” She responds, “I can’t find my soccer shoes!”

2. Taken

This pivotal phone call shows a father’s conviction when defending his daughter.

In the phone call that launched the Taken franchise, Bryan Mills is speaking to the abductors of his 17-year-old daughter.

He begins, “I don’t know who you are. I don’t know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don’t have money, but what I do have are a very particular set of skills.” Mills then offers the captor the option to let his daughter go. He continues, “But if you don’t, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you.”

Liam Neeson portrays a dad’s commitment to protecting his daughter. Not only does he threaten the abductors, but he also gives great advice to his daughter. In the scene right before, he tells her what’s going to happen and explains exactly what she should do. We’d say that’s some helpful fatherly advice.

3. Father of the Bride

This dad missed his daughter and was glad she called.

As Steve Martin is narrating the movie’s ending, he wished he could have said goodbye to his daughter Annie after her wedding. Then the phone rings. It’s his daughter calling from the airport.

She says, “Our plane is about to take off, but I couldn’t leave without saying goodbye.” In a classic Hollywood-style ending, Annie says to her dad, “Thank Mom for everything, OK? And Dad, I love you. I love you very much.” He responds, “I love you too, sweetheart.” That wraps up this classic Father’s Day movie. Is someone cutting onions in here?

4. Finding Nemo

An overprotective father relies on a friend’s attempt at interspecies communication. 

There may not be phones underwater, but long-distance communication is just as important. In one of the most well-known scenes, Dory is trying to help Marlin find his son Nemo by speaking across the sea to what looks like a small fish but turns out to be a whale. In an exaggerated version of whale-speak, Dory tries to say, “We need to find his son,” but the nervous father shouts that she’s not speaking whale: “You’re speaking, like, upset stomach.”

This scene highlights the evolution of Marlin’s character. In the beginning, Marlin is an overprotective and anxious father, and over the course of the movie, he learns to trust his son more. When father and son are finally reunited, there are apologies before Dad begins telling Nemo about his adventures, including meeting a 150-year-old sea turtle. 

5. Interstellar

A moving scene shows a dad catching up on years of missed calls.

Recorded messages are the only way that Cooper, played by Matthew McConaughey, can keep in touch with his family while he’s traveling in space. However, 23 Earth years have passed, and Cooper begins to listen to all of the messages he missed.

A montage shows his 17-year-old son age into a 40-year-old man. We see Cooper’s tears as catching up on his calls reveals how much he’s missed, including the joy of becoming a grandfather when his son has a child, and moments later, the grief of learning that his grandson died.

Things get even more emotional when his daughter Murph’s video message starts. Murph, now a grown woman, tells her father how angry she was when he left and that he said they’d be the same age when he returned. The video message was recorded on her birthday as she turns the same age he was when he left. Both father and daughter break down, missing each other.

6. Meet the Fockers

This son is unfazed by finding out how unsavvy his dad is with phone technology.

When Greg Focker, played by Ben Stiller, calls his dad, a simple process of trying to leave a voicemail message reveals just how technologically changed his dad is with phones. The voicemail greeting begins, “Hello, you’ve reached the Fockers. We’re not around, so leave us a message. Goodbye.”

Then the answering machine message continues as you hear shouting, “Roz, how the hell do you shut this thing off?” The conversation between the parents continues, and there’s back and forth about chimichangas until there’s finally the beep. The look on Stiller’s face is relatable for any child used to their parents’ technology fails.

7. Armageddon

A father calls his daughter from space to say goodbye.

This on-screen father-daughter call is a tearjerker. Harry, played by Bruce Willis, must tell his daughter that he’s not coming home after the mission. After explaining to his daughter that he’s going to break his promise of returning safely, she responds with a stirring speech: “I lied to you too when I told you that I didn’t want to be like you because I am like you. And everything good that I have inside of me, I have from you.”

Harry has to go save the planet from total destruction, and he says to his daughter, “I wish I could be there to walk you down the aisle, but I’ll look in on you from time to time.” When the call cuts out, the static is all that’s left.

8. Sleepless in Seattle

This eight-year-old called a radio station and ended up having a heart to heart with his dad.

In this classic movie, Tom Hanks plays a typical dad character dealing with babysitters and meals. But the relationship between father and son is strained by loss because his wife had passed away. When eight-year-old Jonah calls a talk radio show to get advice about his dad, the conversation takes a twist. The radio host gets both the father and son on the phone call together, and the call transitions into an important conversation between the two.

How can you stay in touch with Dad?

Ooma Telo is a low-cost landline alternative for helping families stay connected, and setting up Ooma is so easy that even Mr. Focker could probably manage it. Dad can even keep his phone number while his phone of choice, whether that’s a traditional wall phone or a fancy wireless one.

The Ooma Basic plan includes a robust set of features including call waiting, online call logs, advanced 911 and Amazon Echo integration. For those who want more, Ooma Premier provides additional features including enhanced call blocking, custom ring patterns, three-way conference calling, and more.

Plus, Ooma’s high-quality phone service is affordable. Our home phone calculator shows that those consumers switching from a traditional landline could save up to 73 percent, and those switching from cellular service could save up to 94 percent.

Learn more about how you can stay connected with Ooma’s home phone service.