Daddy's Home 2 (C or 2/4 stars)
'Daddy's Home 2' (directed again by Sean Ander), the sequel to 2015's co-parenting comedy Daddy's Home, reunites Will Ferrell & Mark Wahlberg, whose characters have buried the rivalry they experienced in the 1st flick, where divorced dad Dusty (Wahlberg) wreaked havoc on new step-father Brad (Ferrell); Brad's wife, Sarah (Linda Cardellini), and Dusty & Sarah's 2 kids. Now Dusty & Brad are best buddies & gratified co-dads: feed the kids, get 'em to school, get 'em picked up, entertain 'em, & nurture 'em. It even looks like they're gonna get the joint family Christmas that the kids have been longing for. But things get mighty complicated for them all - which includes Dusty's wife Karen (Alessandra Ambrosio) & her kids - when Dusty's uninvited tough-guy father, Kurt (Mel Gibson) & Brad's cuddly, touchy-feely dad (John Lithgow) are both paying Christmas visits this year. When the entire clan winds up in a sprawling rental cabin in the woods for a week, they'll have to set aside their many differences, be patient & learn to work together -- or Christmas could be ruined for all. Hijinks ensue.
Eh, I kinda sorta enjoyed 2015's Daddy's Home; while also acknowledging that it's not particularly good. And I feel almost exactly the same way this time around. The cast has chemistry and know how to be funny. I laughed several times. That said, I was also in the company of audience members & friends (+ a child) that was easy to please. Laughter begets laughter. Some of the jokes were funny, but so much of the humor is crass, sour, mysoginitic or generally unpleasant that it made me cringe as much as I was nervously giggling. In the film, children talk back to their parents in ways that makes you loathe them; they live on their cell phones rather than looking up to address the world around them; later on, said children get drunk on egg nog; one enthusiastically shoots a wild turkey {me no likey}; I could go on.
As mentioned earlier, while they don't stretch any thespian skills, Wahlberg & Ferrell are enjoyable to watch. This time around, their 'rivalry' is more about who's the better father than who's the manliest man; I kinda dig that. Wahlberg's onscreen persona just makes me laugh. Ferrell does his over-the-top physical comedy thing very well {LOVED a scene in which his snow blower ensnarls the cabins Christmas lights}. But while I loved seeing Mel Gibson up on the big screen - no matter what you may think of him, the man is a star, a scene-stealer and still has charisma for days - his Kurt imparts many offensive messages about men & women that SHOULD make people squirm. i.e., a sche tells his grandson about bedding two women at once; there's a scene in which a boy who has been teased for liking a girl is encouraged by Kurt to plant a surprise kiss on said girl ... then smack her on the butt -- soooo, she's an object.
For a film that wants to give us messages about family & togetherness, digresses too often to silly gags, absurdity & general inappropriateness. The adult female characters here are given short shrift; relegated to the background too often. As is usual for films of this ilk, violence is played for laughs. But yeah, I can't lie and say that I had some awful time; I didn't. I mean, 'Daddy's Home 2' doesn't redefine this genre or anything. Contrivances abound. It is choppy. Nothing worked for me, dramatically ... why would I care about any of these thinly-drawn, underdeveloped characters? But I chuckled enough. I got the warm, fuzzy Christmassy feeling {however inorganically} and, I wouldn't mind having my brain gloss-over for another bout with this franchise if it were to pop-up again in the future.
Eh, I kinda sorta enjoyed 2015's Daddy's Home; while also acknowledging that it's not particularly good. And I feel almost exactly the same way this time around. The cast has chemistry and know how to be funny. I laughed several times. That said, I was also in the company of audience members & friends (+ a child) that was easy to please. Laughter begets laughter. Some of the jokes were funny, but so much of the humor is crass, sour, mysoginitic or generally unpleasant that it made me cringe as much as I was nervously giggling. In the film, children talk back to their parents in ways that makes you loathe them; they live on their cell phones rather than looking up to address the world around them; later on, said children get drunk on egg nog; one enthusiastically shoots a wild turkey {me no likey}; I could go on.
As mentioned earlier, while they don't stretch any thespian skills, Wahlberg & Ferrell are enjoyable to watch. This time around, their 'rivalry' is more about who's the better father than who's the manliest man; I kinda dig that. Wahlberg's onscreen persona just makes me laugh. Ferrell does his over-the-top physical comedy thing very well {LOVED a scene in which his snow blower ensnarls the cabins Christmas lights}. But while I loved seeing Mel Gibson up on the big screen - no matter what you may think of him, the man is a star, a scene-stealer and still has charisma for days - his Kurt imparts many offensive messages about men & women that SHOULD make people squirm. i.e., a sche tells his grandson about bedding two women at once; there's a scene in which a boy who has been teased for liking a girl is encouraged by Kurt to plant a surprise kiss on said girl ... then smack her on the butt -- soooo, she's an object.
For a film that wants to give us messages about family & togetherness, digresses too often to silly gags, absurdity & general inappropriateness. The adult female characters here are given short shrift; relegated to the background too often. As is usual for films of this ilk, violence is played for laughs. But yeah, I can't lie and say that I had some awful time; I didn't. I mean, 'Daddy's Home 2' doesn't redefine this genre or anything. Contrivances abound. It is choppy. Nothing worked for me, dramatically ... why would I care about any of these thinly-drawn, underdeveloped characters? But I chuckled enough. I got the warm, fuzzy Christmassy feeling {however inorganically} and, I wouldn't mind having my brain gloss-over for another bout with this franchise if it were to pop-up again in the future.