Make Ferrell the butch tough guy and Wahlberg the wuss.īy playing it too safe, “Daddy’s Home” never finds that comic sweet spot and never rises above, “Well, it’s not awful.” The dead spots - and there are many - let you wonder if this might have worked had they tried what Fey and Poehler did in “Sisters,” playing against type. Watch for the Go Pro skateboarding half-pipe scene for the movie’s one clever visual touch, an effect that looks pasted-together on Youtube. He still can deliver, but this script is watered-down lite beer. You feel sorry for Ferrell’s character, then Ferrell himself. Dusty comes along to the fertility clinic where his doctor pal (Bobby Cannavale) might help the less masculine Brad procreate?īut Thomas Haden Church scores some funny lines as Brad’s boss at the “Smooth Jazz” station where they work.ĭirector Sean Anders (“We’re the Millers,” “Horrible Bosses 2”) is satisfied letting this play out by rote, a comedy whose laughs are more irritating than anything else. The reality of the set-up - kids who don’t respect “not my real dad” - is undercut by patently ridiculous scenes. Almost everything is solved by violence.” Brad advocates a non-violent approach to bullies. The conflicts here are obvious, the bones of contention even more so. He’s just “a rascal.” All Brad needs to do (according to “Step into Step Fathering,” his self-help book) is “set up a loving fence.” Create some boundaries, preferably ones that Dusty won’t roll over like Putin in Crimea. Only respect is the last thing on Dusty’s mind.īrad tries not to let Dusty’s pushiness, his rudeness and his gamesmanship rattle him. Brad has “cracked the code,” so much respect he says. Tough, menacing and sexy, he’s “like Jesse James and Mick Jagger had a baby!” And he’s angling to get back into his kids’ lives and his ex-wife’s bed. The kids’ often-absent “real dad” is named Dusty (Wahlberg). stepdad romp that rarely romps, despite the considerable comic chops of the two leads.įerrell is the hovering, nurturing step dad to two tykes whose mother (Linda Cardellini of TV’s “Mad Men” and “New Girl”) he married.īrad is all about the tucking in, the volunteering at school and singing the praises of his practical Sport Maternity Vehicle (a Ford Flex). Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell go at it again in “Daddy’s Home,” a bio-dad vs.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |