Daddy's Home

Too many movies come out on Christmas. 

Seriously. It's ridiculous, and I refuse to spend the holidays sitting in a theater just so I can see all of them. So I've made some choices. 

Joy and Concussion both sounded like mediocre dramas elevated by strong central performances. Am I bummed I missed them? Sure. I'll live though. Point Break is an unnecessary, shiny remake that looks like it has scenes of stunt-crazy brilliance but is vapid otherwise. Again, pass. The Hateful Eight is actually playing in Denver (hallelujah!) and I'll be catching the special 70mm roadshow tomorrow. And The Revenant? Well, that's been banished to 2016 as it's another example of an increasingly annoying limited release. 

So, with my priorities straight, I headed to the theater to see Daddy's Home, the new comedy that teams Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg back together in the hopes for as many laughs as The Other Guys. Did I make the right choice?

Ehhh...I can't necessarily say I made the wrong one because I probably enjoyed this one about as much as I could see myself enjoying the other Christmas releases (aside from The Hateful Eight).  

But Daddy's Home is also certainly no Other Guys, unfortunately.  

"Did we ever tell you about the time that we were cops?"

Now that's a threesome I'd like to see!
I mean....

Daddy's Home falls victim to the plague that I feel like overtook 80-90% of this year's comedy releases: a lack of consistency. Sure, sure every comedy struggles to be consistently funny, but I feel like this year I've seen so many comedies that have a 50/50 hit rate with their jokes. Other than What We Do in the Shadows and Trainwreck to a certain degree, I felt like I've seen a lot of potential this year, but nothing that I'd be buying to watch at home. Interestingly enough, Daddy's Home splits this almost right down the middle of its runtime, with the first half being almost completely void of any laughs and the second half (really more like the final third) being pretty hilarious. I hate saying that Ferrell is nothing without director Adam McKay, but McKay gets Ferrell and knows that he's best when he's either off-script or helping with the script. To me, The Other Guys is one of Ferrell's Top 3 or Top 5 films. It's hilarious, consistent, actually quite engaging from a story perspective, and fun. Wahlberg and Ferrell have great chemistry in it and it was surprising. They have great chemistry here too, but I got the sense that the conversation to get them both on board went something like: 

"Hey, remember that film you two made that everyone loved that was really funny?"
"Yeah"
"Well let's do that again!"
"Ummmm ok. Will McKay be directing?"
"No he's busy with something called The Big Short, but dont worry about it! People will want to see you two back together again!"

I'll admit, I wanted to see if the magic was still there which is why this was my Christmas movie choice. Ferrell and Wahlberg still got it, yes. But these writers and the director don't and thus the movie is mostly unfunny because of it. 

Go home, Will. You're drunk.

It's not all bad though. The film does get much funnier later on once these two's competition of being the best dad begins. And there are some great supporting roles too. Hannibal Buress has some funny lines and I found Thomas Haden Church's completely unrelated stories to be the funniest bits of the film. Unfortunately, Linda Cardellini (plays the wife) isn't given much to do here from a comedic standpoint and largely remains the female voice of reason during the male pissing contest. The story was surprisingly touching though with Ferrell trying his hardest to be a good dad while knowing that he can never have his own kids due to infertility. It's no tear jerker, but I enjoyed it in a film where I thought the story would be something I ignored completely altogether. 

I often love Will Ferrell, and I really enjoyed him and Wahlberg in Daddy's Home even if the film fell mostly flat for me. I had some good laughs, the movie was short enough to where I didn't really get antsy, and it was nice to see them back together again. But truthfully, this makes me want The Other Guys 2 all the more. 

CONS:

• The hit rate of jokes is pretty low, I'd say about 20/80 for the first two-thirds and 80/20 for the final third. This is due to a lame script that allows for little-to-no ad-libbing from Ferrell or Wahlberg
• Ferrell films without McKay's direction/script/friendship often really miss that director. I'm happy that The Big Short is a huge success for him, but I really hope he continues to work with Ferrell
• Plays out almost exactly how you'd expect it to
• Linda Cardellini is underused and doesn't get to flex her comedic chops at all
• Feels like most everyone is just going through the motions

PROS:

• Ferrell and Wahlberg still have great combative chemistry onscreen
• There are some really funny scenes throughout. I really enjoyed the final 10-15 minutes
• Fun supporting roles from Buress and Church. Church's stories were hilarious
• Touching story for a film that arguably didn't really need to have one

 

Rath's Review Score: 6/10