by Brendan Foley
If all you are wanting is a simple yes or no, thumbs up or thumbs down, rotten or fresh judgement on Daddy’s Home, now available to buy and rent on DVD and Blu-ray then I can tell you that it is a perfectly fine studio comedy with two veteran movie stars who know exactly how to play their particular shtick and stick to it. Daddy’s Home is fine. It is a comedy that will make you laugh consistently, with some especially strong moments sprinkled throughout (chiefly whenever Hannibal Buress shows up).
As a fan of both Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg, though, it’s hard to settle for ‘fine’, especially since their last pairing produced one of the last decade’s most underrated comedy films.
Daddy’s Home opens with Brad (a Will Ferrell-esque putz played putzily by Will Ferrell) trying to develop a relationship with his new stepkids following his marriage to Sara (Linda Cardellini). There’s obviously a ton of awkwardness to get past, but the endlessly chipper Brad powers through every act of passive-aggressive (or just aggressive-aggressive) loathing from the young brother and sister. Just as it looks like Brad is finally finding his footing with the kids, their biological father, Dusty (a Mark Wahlberg-esque badass, played by Mark Wahlberg) arrives in town eager to reclaim his family. The tension between the two men is immediate and things quickly escalate.
Well…they sort of do. The conceit of the movie is established within the first five minutes of Ferrell and Wahlberg sharing the screen: Dusty will talk Brad up into doing something foolish, Brad will hem and haw until backed into a corner, finally he will bite the bullet and do whatever it is Dusty has talked him into, disaster will ensue. Ferrell screams, Wahlberg is blithe to the chaos, lather rinse repeat for 90 minutes.
It’s a testament to the chemistry between these two men that this set-up works as well as it does as often as it does. Adam McKay figured out with The Other Guys that Wahlberg is ten-times funnier when he appears oblivious to being in a comedy, and Daddy’s Home milks a similar set-up for all its worth as Dusty innocuously pushes Brad to crazier extremes. Ferrell can play this sort of slow burn slide into outsized psychosis in his sleep by this point, so it’s to his credit that he still seems fully engaged in movies like this, going big and crazy when needed and knowing when to back off and play straight man for the supporting cast.
As for that supporting cast, the innate stay-in-your-lane-ness of the film guides them as well. Thomas Haden Church plays a lovably smarmy prick, the way Thomas Haden Church always does (Sidenote: I remember George of the Jungle being a sneakily brilliant bit of meta-comedy. Is nostalgia blinding me or is it actually solid? Call in now). Bobby Cannavale is a lovably slimy prick, and Hannibal Buress is, well, he’s just plain lovable.
Everyone is dependably good (and Buress really does steal every single scene he’s in as a handyman that becomes intertwined with Dusty’s vendetta against Brad. Anyone who knows his stand-up or work on Broad City knows that Buress can take the simplest of lines and turn into a ten-megaton-bomb of comedy with his timing and inflection, and Daddy’s Home gives him a great, great showcase) but it’s impossible to shake that feeling of been-there, done-that with this one.
Honestly, the movie I kept thinking about as Ferrell and Wahlberg went through their paces wasn’t The Other Guys (though that movie is an underrated gem that beautifully combines berserk absurdism with frothing-at-the-mouth satire) but Pineapple Express. Another underappreciated comedy, Pineapple Express benefited tremendously from the pre-production decision for James Franco and Seth Rogen to switch roles. Originally, Rogen was supposed to play the permanently-stoned, endlessly-endearing drug dealer and Franco was supposed to play the process server scumbag. The decision to switch roles not only allowed both men to display chops and abilities never before seen (Franco bought himself a decade’s worth of forgiveness for all his art school lunacy with his performance as Saul) but it gave the film an energy it would otherwise have gone without.
Like I said at the top, Daddy’s Home is a perfectly solid comedy. Will Ferrell is one of the most naturally funny performers going today, and Wahlberg is a killer foil for him. The two of them bouncing off one another is all-but guaranteed to generate at least a few laughs, and Daddy’s Home has plenty. But it’s missing that extra little something that will take it from “fun film for movie night” to something truly special.