I do have to admit I laughed a little less many of the times Gibson was on screen. Not a huge amount, but enough that I have to adhere to our founder Roger’s rule of comedy assessment, which, most simply put, is that if a comedy made you laugh it did its job and you can’t front about it. “You’ll laugh,” a friendly publicist assured me on my way into the theater, and I did.
#Daddys home 2 plus#
Cardellini is given a little more to do in this picture than the first one, and that’s a plus too. It’s all pretty amiable and funny, and further intrigue is provided by Dusty’s new wife, Karen, a snooty author with supermodel looks and a snootier daughter, Adrianna, an age peer of Dylan and Megan, Dusty’s kids by Linda Cardellini’s Sarah. Brad’s own slapstick ineptitude is highlighted when a runaway snowblower destroys a Christmas decoration display. There are scenes in which both the two dads and the two granddads offer advice and strategies on ten-year-old or so Dylan’s emerging interest in girls, and later his ineptitude at bowling. (The use and misuse of the word “harbor” becomes a semi-running joke, an almost sophisticated bit of linguistic humor that would absolutely not have floated in the first film.) Kurt is at first passive-aggressive-renting a house near a ski resort to better facilitate a “together Christmas” in the hopes of driving a wedge into Dusty and Brad’s relationship-and then just aggressive, encouraging one of Dusty’s biological children to take up turkey hunting. Surely the two very different personalities still, as one of the characters puts it, “harbor” some resentment toward each other. Both granddads arrive at the airport simultaneously, and macho Kurt, who hasn’t seen Dusty in years, is hard-pressed to contain his disgust at the “co-dad” arrangement Dusty and Brad seem so happy in. Brad’s dad, Don, is a motormouth ultra-limp noodle with a liking for improv comedy, played by John Lithgow. Dusty’s pop is alpha-male ex-astronaut Kurt, played by Mel Gibson.
Here it arrives in the persons of granddads. In the post “Daddy’s Home” alliance between cool-bro dad Dusty ( Mark Wahlberg) and winsome wimp stepdad Brad ( Will Ferrell), a little discontent must fall. When the cast breaks into "Feed the World," you'll want to sing along.As for what “Daddy’s Home 2” does have, it’s an expansion of the family dynamic of the first film, which anyone familiar with the “Meet the Parents” films will recognize as an added-star-power strategy. But it's so much fun! It makes you feel warm and fuzzy, especially around the holidays. Yes, this territory has been covered before (in MEET THE FOCKERS, UNACCOMPANIED MINORS, and the first DADDY'S HOME). You KNOW how it's going to end, because if it ended any other way, it would be depressing.
#Daddys home 2 movie#
This isn't the most realistic movie in the world, but don't you WISH it was? Wouldn't it be great if your bratty stepdaughter turned into an angel the first time you said "I love you"? If you could celebrate Christmas with your wife, your wife's ex-husband, your ex-wife, and the ex-wife's new husband, and all of you ended up being close friends? If a bunch of grumpy strangers stranded at a movie theater on Christmas could morph into a holiday party by singing "Feed the World"? There are no real surprises in this film. Positive message, hilarious yet appropriate for family viewing