The film is based on Wang's own novel, Wo Shi Ni Baba (English: I Am Your Father).
Despite being partially backed by the state-run Beijing Film Studio, Father suffered from years of bureaucratic red tape due to being seen as an interpretation of as deconstructing authority in China.
The film stars director Feng Xiaogang, who also helped adapt Wang's novel for the screen.
Though he works as a low-level party functionary during the day, he finds his greatest challenges in the raising of a son on his own.
Derek Elley of Variety wrote that the film's two-part structure (the drama of the father-son relationship versus the broader comedy of the romance between Ma Lingyuan and Qi Huaiyuan) left the film a "little uneven in tone...," ultimately "los[ing] its focus in the final reels.