Review: Daddy’s Home proves Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell are a great combo

“DADDY’S HOME” follows a mild-mannered radio executive (Ferrell) who strives to become the best stepdad to his wife’s two children, but complications ensue when their freewheeling and freeloading real father (Wahlberg) arrives, forcing him to compete for the affection of the kids.

It’s hard to get a good idea of what to fully expect in Daddy’s Home from just the trailers and TV spots. I didn’t expect there to be such a large family presence as there were more than a few people in there with their 8 year old kids and I didn’t expect the movie to have the laugh out loud comedy that was in say The Other Guys. This movie presents itself as falling somewhere in between raunchy and familial which are too ideas that are difficult to balance. Does Daddy’s Home succeed? HELL YES! Will Ferrell is Brad Taggert the new husband to Linda Cardellini’s Sarah Taggert. Mark Wahlberg plays the dangerously cool Dusty Mayron the ex-husband to Linda who split on his family. Hannibal Burress is shoehorned in this movie as well and delivers some decent jokes in this film although his inclusion seems a bit forced.

There are moments when this movie will tug at your heart and other moments when it will have you bursting with laughter as this movie has Ferrell and Wahlberg giving some of their funnies performances in recent memory. The plot is fairly simple with the estranged biological dad (Wahlberg) finding out his ex has married and didn’t notify him until 8 months into her new relationship. He decides to visit and stir things up with the new Step-Dad (Ferrell) and the game of one upsmanship begins as the two guys battle to “Out-Dad” each other. Who will win? Step dad or Bio-Dad? The back and forth is hysterical but the best is when they fail while succeeding. There’s a great scene where Ferrell and Wahlberg take the 2 kids to a Lakers game that plays out in a somewhat predictable manner but still the way Ferrell and Wahlberg deliver this moment is hysterical. Kudos to the writer, director, and others for pulling this scene off and I could only wish to have been in attendance for this scene that apparently took place at a real Lakers game with a completely unaware audience. You guys may have scene this footage online a while back:

There are laughs like this littered all throughout the movie but there’s also a few heart wrenching moments sprinkled throughout the film too. few people have the chemistry that Ferrell has with Wahlberg. similar to how well John C. Reilly was with Ferrell. These guys are peanut butter and chocolate. Toast and cheese. Rock and Sock. The cinematography gets some nods because there’s a good amount of physical humor that relies on “reveals”. They’re truly unexpected and the payoff is immense. Go into this one with an open mind because by the time it ends you’ll almost wish there was more movie to this or at least look forward to a sequel.

There’s more than a few things that make this movie ultimately seem forced. Again, the inclusion and recurring appearance of Hannibal Burress in this movie is somewhat used as a running gag but his character is mostly relegated to the background and adds very little to the overall movie. Same goes for Thomas Hayden Church who is a tough guy to watch as he struggles with his delivery. For the most part THC is a pretty good actor but he struggles with a lot of his comedic timing in this movie making me roll my eyes whenever there’s a scene that he’s included. I knew he was going to try to be funny and was going to mess up his timing. I didn’t miss read that not even once. The funniest non-lead character in this movie was, without question, Billy Slaughter who nailed it every time he appeared on screen. I completely underestimated this guy in this film but he knocks it out of the park in each of his brief appearances.

It’s easy to recommend Daddy’s Home to just about anyone. I went in without my kid and felt like dirt after seeing how many brought children to a screening while my kid was with grandma but still had a great time. The folks that brought their kids looked like they had a great time too. I like the chemistry of Wahlberg and Ferrell and I also liked that it was a fairly grounded comedy. This wasn’t a movie I could predict I’d want to see again but I’ve already begun planning to re-watch this one with the kid. It’s easily a good movie to recommend seeing over the holiday while with the family.

Observations: 

• Mark Wahlberg is STILL ripped
• Will Ferrell is completely un-ripped
• I can’t remember anyone not named Mark Wahlberg or Will Ferrell

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