Daddy’s Home (2015)

[5]

I was sick with bronchitis when I stumbled across this movie’s sequel, Daddy’s Home 2. And that movie succeeded in giving me a few chuckles and smiles when I was feeling down. So now that we’re all in quarantine during the big COVID19 pandemic, I’ve really been needing some good comedies. I decided to dig back and find Daddy’s Home 1.

Well, Daddy’s Home 1 ain’t no Daddy’s Home 2. Both movies star Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell as a biological father and a step-father fighting to win the love of their children. The first film is a game of constant one-upmanship that gets old by the end. If one of the guys were truly bad and the other were truly good, maybe I would have invested more in seeing good triumph over evil. But instead, Daddy’s Home 1 tries to preserve the good intentions of both characters — which is great in real life, but as a comedy movie, I just don’t care.

Daddy’s Home 2 is a marginally superior sequel because it’s a new power dynamic. Both men’s fathers enter the equation, as well as perceptions of masculinity and proper fathering techniques. Both men have to deal with the weaknesses in their parents and the parents have to learn to accept the differences in their sons. It’s still a popcorn comedy — but at least it has that stuff going on underneath the surface.

With Linda Cardellini (Freaks and Geeks) in a massively thankless mother role.