Artie Decker, a sports commentator for the minor leagueFresno Grizzlies, is fired due to his old-fashioned personality and lack of social media savvy. He and his eager-to-please wife, Diane, agree to babysit their three grandchildren, Harper, Turner, and Barker in Atlanta when their daughter, Alice, and son-in-law, Phil, go away for an entrepreneur convention. Problems arise as Artie and Diane’s parenting skills collide with Alice and Phil's helicopter parenting. After learning of the children's various problems, such as Harper's high achievement syndrome, Turner's stutter, and Barker's imaginary friend, Carl the kangaroo, Artie and Diane try to make them their new best friends. Alice unexpectedly returns home early when her boss gives her an assignment to redesign the website for the X Games. Artie uses this to his advantage, as he arranges an interview for the role of sports commentator. Artie manages to place Barker's life in danger when Barker nearly gets hurt by a skateboard ridden by Tony Hawk. Eventually, the tension comes to a head as Alice disagrees with Diane's letting Harper attend a party the night before a violin recital and the "death" of Carl. Alice eventually reconciles with Artie and Diane, and she allows Harper to withdraw from the recital. Turner later takes Harper’s place on stage and overcomes his stutter by reciting the commentary from the Shot Heard 'Round The World. Afterwards, Artie and Diane successfully become a major part of their grandchildren's lives, with Artie taking up a new job as a commentator for an Atlanta Little League Baseball team alongside Turner.
The film was released on December 25, 2012, in the United States and Canada and on December 26, 2012, in Australia, the United Kingdom, and Ireland. Its international release spans from December 19, 2012, to July 11, 2013, with the first 2013 release on January 3, 2013, in the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, and Singapore.
Despite generally negative reviews, box office totals for the film were higher than expected. Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 17% based on 92 reviews with an average rating of 3.84/10. The website's critical consensus states: "Parental Guidance is sweet but milquetoast, an inoffensive trifle that's blandly predictable." Metacritic gives it a weighted average score of 36 out of 100, based on reviews from 20 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave it an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale. On Cinema at the Cinema gave it five bags of popcorn.
