Daddy’s Home

(spoiler free)

Christmas has been and gone, the ‘Star Wars’ hype has just about calmed down and film fans are awaiting some of the Oscar favourites that will be released in the new year. What is there to tide us over until then though!? Not a lot really, the only new release that I hadn’t seen was the latest effort from Will Ferrell, ‘Daddy’s Home’ – would this comedy have me laughing into 2016 or would it tarnish what has been a pretty good year for cinema?

‘Daddy’s Home’ sees Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg reunite after 2010’s ‘The Other Guys’. I haven’t seen that effort but it has to be said that whilst Ferrell has produced some great comedies such as ‘Anchorman’ and ‘Elf’ he can be a little hit and miss. However, I did enjoy his comedy with Kevin Hart earlier in the year, ‘Get Hard’ even if no-one else seemed too. Anyway, ‘Daddy’s Home’ is a great concept and there is much potential for laughs with this premise. I struggle to think of anyone better to play the real dad in this situation other than Mark Wahlberg, he has the physicality that the role required and the ability to play a real dick at times. He and Ferrell work well together and their polar opposite approaches to parenting do create a chuckle here and there. The premise is explored throughout the movie and whilst it becomes a little monotonous after the halfway mark it’s actually used very well in the finale rounding the film off in an entertaining way. 

The comedy itself is a real mixture. There is everything from slapstick humour, crude moments, one liners and nearly all these varieties of humour create some funny scenes. It’s a shame that a lot of it does at times fail to provoke any humour at all though. It has to be said though that even when the film doesn’t have you wetting yourself it is still amusing largely due to the performances and until after the half way mark I don’t think there is much chance of you being bored. There are a couple of supporting characters that have way too much screen time and that never really add too much to the proceedings but to counter these are the two great kids that feature in the film. Both of these youngsters work really well in this comedy and combine cuteness and humour to mean that they fulfill their roles very well.

‘Daddy’s Home’ doesn’t rival much of either of the lead actors filmography and it is largely forgettable. However both actors have made a lot worse movies and there is nothing here that would detract so much from having an enjoyable night at the movies with a few laughs. ‘Daddy’s Home’ is a good premise with a mixture of humour, more lands than doesn’t and with a good conclusion you won’t mind paying the price of admission to see this one.

Rating – 6/10