Daddy's Home

Year: 2015
Type: Comedy
Directed: Sean Anders
Stars: Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg. Linda Cardellini, Thomas Haden Church, Hannibal Buress, Bobby Cannavale

There are two types of people in this world. Those who like Will Ferrell movies and those who don't. I place myself firmly in the later category and I say this as a warning to the former. To those who like Ferrell, odds are you'll like Daddy's Home. I can respect that; I can accept your fandom and I won't make it personal.

Okay I won't get too personal

Daddy's Home assails the quiet domesticated life of Brad (Ferrell) a step-father with the presences of Dusty (Wahlberg) the real father. Brad has just gotten his step-children to like him largely due to his ability to master the mundane tasks of parenting; dropping them off at school, making cookies for the PTA, volunteering at church etc. Dusty on the other hand is not the domestic type and seems okay with loading up the children with candy before bedtime, making a skate park in the back yard and teaching the young son to fight. The affable, feeble and timid Brad competes for the family's attention and love against a competition that seems better than him in every way.

There are many ways to describe the characters of this movie and realistic isn't one of them. The two leads take the same antagonistic approach taken from their other collaboration The Other Guys (2010) accept Wahlberg's gone to anger therapy and has an affinity for shirtless workouts. He also weaves tall tales about living overseas and meeting famous people, all of which end up being true. Ferrell's hobbies include crying, flinching and saying "oh-shucks" all the time. He's a man that's hard to root for let alone stomach for too long, yet we're supposed to spend 96 minutes of our time hoping he can find the familial love he craves. Both men are caricatures in the worst sense of the word. They're boring and flat with no redeeming characteristics that matter. Their actions make no sense other than in the fictional SNL inspired crazy town they seemed to have come from and they easily buckle under the litany of humdrum, tired, and brainless comedy cliches.

representation of comedy today.

With an unfunny script, bad characters and terrible setups you can at least count on Ferrell and Wahlberg to come up with some bilious, grossly-inappropriate improvisations to stomach the banality; right? Such are the modes in comedy today where amusing dialogue and brilliant satire is replaced with something you can see at an average open-mic night. But while I must admit I am surprised how much you can get away with with a PG-13 rating, a lax policy towards the b-word can't keep the one-ups-man-ship to a palpable level; It's all so tame, so domesticated and so, so lifeless.

The real tragedy is Ferrell has always been a talent that doesn't need to resort to cliche, banality or ugliness. Just when you think he's down for the count, he comes back with an out-of-left-field dramedy that works like Stranger Than Fiction (2006) and Everything Must Go (2010). Beyond that, his work on SNL (1975-Present) and the riotous Anchorman (2004) keep him well paid and well fed. Yet there's no saving this turd, it's and awful assemblage of deja vu and who cares and Ferrell and Wahlberg are either unaware or simply don't care anymore.

Now there's the face of a man who don't give a f***

Final Grade: F