"Daddy's Home" is a 95-minute award-winning comedy movie from 2015 that recently returned to the headlines because a sequel is coming out these days that adds the legendary Mel Gibson to the cast, but we will talk about that one later. Today the focus is on this one we got here. It is among the most known career works by writer and director Sean Anders and the story can be summarized quickly. Will Ferrell plays a family man, only problem is the two kids are not his, but from his love's previous relationship. And when that man (played by Mark Wahlberg) enters the family's life again, it is not helping Ferrell's character's plans at all for the kids to finally accept him as their co-dad if you want to call it like that, especially as Wahlberg is (apart from the issue of responsibility) the perfect man, but not really the perfect dad. This is 100% about the comedy for me. There were some moments where they slightly tried to make a statement on good parenting and emotions, but these were really not too memorable at all. But it's fine as the film never takes itself seriously at all. Ferell is the MVP here without a doubt, but he also has the best material and he only has very few moments when he is missing the mark. It sure helps too that for the most part he is next to a relatively limited actor when it comes to comedy at least.
Some parts I liked a lot indeed. For example the very ending with the inclusion of John Cena and the turned tables. Or also the "racism" parts about the Black buddy. And there are more fairly hilarious sequences for sure. You will recognize them when you see them. Oh yeah and Linda Cardellini is still as sweet as it gets. What else? Sadly, there is negative too. The film is pretty generic and predictable at times, like with the big conflict in the second half that has Ferrell's character somewhat move out. But did anybody think that Wahlberg would really take his place and then the film ends? Or that he won't fail again with responsibility? Hell no. Even if that was a nice idea to turn the tables again. There weren't really any moments at all when the cast disappeared into their characters that much that I felt like I was watching genuine, actually existing people. Admittedly you cannot blame the actors too much as the script's constant craving for humor made it really difficult for them. There are two sequences that certainly can be considered among the film's defining parts, but both went horribly wrong, namely the basketball part (small cameo by Kobe Bryant) and the dance parts near the end (Ferrell's character would never ever have dances topless there all of a sudden). It was a reference back to the idea of dancing to solve problems and conflict, but it just felt wrong. And they quickly built in a new antagonist there to make sure we don't really see Wahlberg's character as such (anymore). We should accept him as a friend eventually. This also explains the scene after the fast forward where we also get served the idea that he really no longer is interested in taking Ferrell's character's place as he has his own family now. So yeah, I think it was an entertaining watch and this one is worth seeing once, maybe twice. Sadly at times they just did not manage to restrain themselves in their attempts to make this a funny watch and the result is sadly that it feels absurdly over the top. But luckily, the good is still more frequent than the bad and I also liked the dialogue writing here for the most part, which was smarter and wittier than I initially expected. Overall, I give this project a thumbs-up and recommend checking it out.
Some parts I liked a lot indeed. For example the very ending with the inclusion of John Cena and the turned tables. Or also the "racism" parts about the Black buddy. And there are more fairly hilarious sequences for sure. You will recognize them when you see them. Oh yeah and Linda Cardellini is still as sweet as it gets. What else? Sadly, there is negative too. The film is pretty generic and predictable at times, like with the big conflict in the second half that has Ferrell's character somewhat move out. But did anybody think that Wahlberg would really take his place and then the film ends? Or that he won't fail again with responsibility? Hell no. Even if that was a nice idea to turn the tables again. There weren't really any moments at all when the cast disappeared into their characters that much that I felt like I was watching genuine, actually existing people. Admittedly you cannot blame the actors too much as the script's constant craving for humor made it really difficult for them. There are two sequences that certainly can be considered among the film's defining parts, but both went horribly wrong, namely the basketball part (small cameo by Kobe Bryant) and the dance parts near the end (Ferrell's character would never ever have dances topless there all of a sudden). It was a reference back to the idea of dancing to solve problems and conflict, but it just felt wrong. And they quickly built in a new antagonist there to make sure we don't really see Wahlberg's character as such (anymore). We should accept him as a friend eventually. This also explains the scene after the fast forward where we also get served the idea that he really no longer is interested in taking Ferrell's character's place as he has his own family now. So yeah, I think it was an entertaining watch and this one is worth seeing once, maybe twice. Sadly at times they just did not manage to restrain themselves in their attempts to make this a funny watch and the result is sadly that it feels absurdly over the top. But luckily, the good is still more frequent than the bad and I also liked the dialogue writing here for the most part, which was smarter and wittier than I initially expected. Overall, I give this project a thumbs-up and recommend checking it out.