Review of Daddy's Home (2014) by Brett H — 24 Mar 2016

Daddy's Home is the latest dumb comedy from Will Ferrell who re-teams with his, The Other Guys co-star, Mark Wahlberg and the results are sporadically amusing at best. The premise is somewhat ripe with potential, however the film quickly devolves into a poorly scripted, knock-off of Meet the Parents with Ferrell in the Stiller role and Wahlberg as the domineering, DeNiro presence.

The basic story is that Ferrell's step-dad character has always wanted his wife's kids to love him and once their old dad returns, he has to literally fight for their affection in a series of comedic hijinks.

Unfortunately, the film just isn't funny and with a very safe, PG rating, it can't afford to take any risks and we're left with a very vanilla product. One thing that rubbed me the wrong way was the overuse of CGI to make stunts possible, which looks fake-as-shit and takes me out of the movie instantly.

I also failed to connect with the Ferrell character due to his inability to stand up for himself and his meek, pushover attitude was grating to watch. There are a few funny moments here and there, and I definitely enjoyed the second half of the film more than the first, but the jokes weren't consistent enough and many aspects of the film felt lazy.