That’s My Boy is a 2012 American satirical comedy film directed by Sean Anders and starring Adam Sandler and Andy Samberg. The film follows Donny (Sandler), a middle-aged alcoholic who once enjoyed celebrity status for being at the center of a teacher-student statutory rape case, as he tries to rekindle his relationship with his adult son, Todd (Samberg), born as the result of that illicit relationship, in hopes that their televised reunion will earn him enough money to avoid going to prison for tax evasion.
In Massachusetts in 1984, young Donald “Donny” Berger flirts with his middle school teacher, Mary McGarricle, who is repulsed by his actions and gives him a month’s detention. However, in detention, Mary seduces Donny and they begin a sexual relationship. Their relationship is discovered during an auditorium speech. Subsequently, Mary is sentenced to 30 years in prison for statutory rape, but the scandal makes Donny famous. Mary is also revealed to be pregnant, and custody of the unborn child is given to Donny’s abusive father. When Donny turns 18, he will take full custody.
In the present, Donny is an alcoholic and broke slacker who owes $43,000 to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in back-taxes. To avoid going to jail, he places a $20 bet on an 8000:1 runner in an upcoming race, but decides to make a back-up plan should the runner lose. Meanwhile, he has also been estranged from his now 28-year-old son for the past 10 years. To avoid contact with his parents and others discovering the family connection, their son changed his name from Han Solo Berger to Todd Peterson and tells others that his parents died in an explosion. Now a successful businessman, Todd has recently arrived at the Cape Cod house of his boss, Steve Spirou, where he is to marry his fiancée, Jamie.
Randall Morgan, a television producer who worked with Donny during his time as a celebrity, offers him $100,000 if he can organize a reunion with Todd and Mary. Informed of his son’s upcoming wedding in a newspaper, Donny arrives at Cape Cod. Todd, who did not expect the visit, pretends Donny is an old friend, and his father’s popularity with the guests annoys him. He initially refuses to see his mother, but after Donny convinces Jamie’s family to have the wedding rehearsal away from churches and Todd’s friends to have the bachelor party at a strip club, Todd reconciles with him and agrees to the prison meeting. However, as a television crew arrives to film in the middle of Todd and Mary’s encounter, Todd leaves in disgust without signing a release form.