Delayed Reaction: Daddy's Home 2

Premise: Dusty and Brad's feud reignites when their fathers come to town.

 

Sean Anders is a director who is slowly growing on me. When you look at his movies in release order, it's mostly uphill. Early on, he had Sex Drive (2008) which was very forgettable and That's My Boy (2012), which I've never found the motivation to see. He got a little more polished with Horrible Bosses 2 (2014). That still mostly didn't work, but he used the stars pretty well. Daddy's Home (2015) did well with the Ferrell vs. Wahlberg thing, but I found it pretty tedious. Daddy's Home 2 (2017) I actually liked a little more. It made the conflict less combative and embraced some silliness in ways that weren't just Will Ferrell getting hurt. And Instant Family (2018) was an unexpected treat that I liked quite a bit. Apparently, he's doing a comedy next with Will Ferrell, Ryan Reynolds, and Octavia Spencer that I think is a take on A Christmas Carol. I'm somewhat excited for that, given how he's been trending.

 

As I mentioned above, I kind of liked Daddy's Home 2. It's got obvious flaws. The jokes are a little geared toward children. There's little room for subtly and every story beat is telegraphed. I liked some of the relationships and jokes though. I'm a huge fan of the movie starting with Dusty and Brad as friends. That dynamic is so much more interesting: opposites who try to embrace what they like about each other. There's still plenty of room for conflict, but it doesn't sell out the central relationship of the movie. It's a lot of what I liked about Instant Family too. Bringing in their dads for hyper-versions of their personalities was a nice way to have their cake and eat it too. John Lithgow and Mel Gibson are great at these kinds of roles too. Lithgow brings some 3rd Rock from the Sun. Gibson brings some What Women Want.

 

After those four, the movie does have trouble with the rest of the cast. The kids are definitely an afterthought. I suppose that's expected though. I really wish Linda Cardellini had more to do. They've got an MVP candidate sitting on the bench for most of the movie. I get that the design of the movie isn't meant to focus on her in the same way that, like, Bride Wars isn't about the grooms, but it's such a waste. The movie is pretty awful about Alessandra Ambrosia, although I don't think anyone is under the impression that she's trying that hard to act.

 

I got a couple legitimate laughs out of this. The four men's reaction to the thermostat is wonderful. That is such a spot-on "dad" bit. It's funny how, as different as Ferrell, Lithgow, and Gibson are in this, they all unite about that topic. Also, after the turkey hunting incident, the daughter telling a nurse "I just shot a turkey and a man. Guess which one's dead?" is comedy gold. While not a great movie by any measure, the 21% on Rotten Tomatoes strikes me as lazily low.

 

Verdict: Weakly Don't Recommend