Aubrey MaloneDaddy’s Home (12A)
When irresponsible ‘tough guy’ Dusty (Mark Wahlberg), the estranged father of two young children, makes an unexpected phone call to his ex-wife Sarah (Linda Cardellini), it causes all sorts of chaos to ensue in this ribald comedy from Sean Anders. Though it carries a 12A cert, I’m sure most viewers would agree it should have been 15A.
Radio executive Brad (Will Ferrell) is now Sarah’s significant other but he has a tough time taking Dusty’s place with their pampered kids. When Dusty announces his intention to visit, Brad seems surprisingly keen on the idea – his nerdish personality can only come out second best to the more ‘cool’ one of Dusty.
Before we know where we are, the manipulative Dusty has muscled his way back into Sarah’s life – and home. This causes immense upheaval to the new-found stability she’s reached with the more domesticated (if somewhat timid) Brad.
Dusty “blanks” Brad at the airport when he goes to collect him. Thereafter he uses every trick in the book to subvert Brad’s tenuous authority in the house. He takes great delight in hitting him at all his weak spots, something the children (if not Sarah) seem all too happy to endorse.
Matters reach a head when Brad, who can’t have children of his own due to an unfortunate accident, is confronted with a very maternal Sarah. The situation seems to be headed towards an all-out confrontation between the two men but then things go in a different direction and they form an unlikely bonding.
It’s one of those occasionally funny films Ferrell has been making back-to-back over the past number of years. To paraphrase Abraham Lincoln: “If you like this kind of thing, it’s the kind of thing you’ll like.” It’s well-nigh interchangeable with the kind of thing people like Adam Sandler – who likes to alternate vulgarity with dumbed-down adolescent banter – have been making their living off.
That said, there are laugh-out-loud moments in this romp, particularly when Brad tries to recapture some macho credentials by riding Dusty’s high-powered motorbike and ends up with his head poking out of a wall. Or when he embarks on a daredevil skateboard manoeuvre which almost gets him electrocuted.
In drier vein, the always reliable Thomas Haden Church (his work colleague) provides some rib-tickling asides as he regales Brad with convoluted anecdotes about his own marital past.
Daddy’s Home is a frivolous, Friday night movie for younger viewers. It will no doubt have its adherents among those who want to eradicate some post-Christmas blues. For much of the time we seem to be heading for a ‘mouse that roared’ scenario but the high jinks stop when Brad opts for a method of conflict resolution through the unlikely medium of dance. It’s one more shift of emphasis in a film that thrives on such shifts, right up to the surprise ending where Dusty becomes the new Brad.