Sometimes you just feel like watching a dumb movie. That was my deal tonight — I wanted to see something I hadn’t seen before, and Daddy’s Home was on. And yep, it’s a silly inconsequential flick, but it was a mostly pleasant experience for an evening when you just want to relax and chill.
Will Ferrell is great at being a doofus, and Mark Wahlberg managed to evoke a bit of charm here and there, despite playing a complete asshat. I can’t complain much, as some of it was even clever…like the opening credits where the little girl’s holiday drawings illustrated how she gradually became less antagonistic to her step-father. That was a good use of exposition. I liked “random guy” Griff, who basically moved onto the couch of the family’s household, Tumor the wackadoodle ‘ugly-cute’ dog, the “scary” fourth-graders gag (that bit gave me a genuine laugh), and out-of-left-field stories from Ferrell’s creepy boss. I thought the kiddos were great little actors, and the wife got in some fun lines here and there.
That’s the good. There was also quite a bit of bad. The shtick of the battling fathers got old really fast, and by the middle of the movie I felt bored and restless. The plot needed to go somewhere besides Ferrell being a loser and Wahlberg being too cool for school. It seemed like Wahlberg’s character knew everybody, and everybody loved him: how very convenient. By the time the movie hit the Lakers scene, I was over the constant one-upping-ness and rote predictability of the plot. I don’t blame the actors here, who I think did what they could with what was written.
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I don’t like cringe humor, and Daddy’s Home had that in spades. This would frankly never be the kind of film I’d pay to see in the theater, but it worked for a light bit of home entertainment.
Movie Grade: C
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