Daddy's Home 2 - Review

Even when an actor has really been off of their game lately, it’s easy to give them the benefit of the doubt when they’ve been great in the past. Will Ferrell is one of those actors, and despite not having a hit in quite a while, it’s easy to forget. It’s not like the first Daddy’s Home was horrendous by any means (there are some truly horrifying comedies lately), but it wasn’t good either. Unfortunately, the sequel isn’t any better.

Father and stepfather Dusty (Mark Wahlberg) and Brad (Will Ferrell) join forces to make Christmas time perfect for the children. Their newfound partnership soon gets put to the test when Dusty's old-school, macho dad (Mel Gibson) and Brad's gentle father (John Lithgow) arrive to turn the holiday upside down.

Knowing Daddy’s Home 2 is a comedy sequel should tell you all you need to know about the story. It’s very unoriginal, nothing audiences haven’t seen before, and stuck in a place of upping the ante and hijinks to higher levels than the first. But where Daddy’s Home 2 differs is by throwing in weird “heartfelt” moments that don’t work in the slightest. It feels, like most comedies today, like a series of skits and good ideas tied together by a loose thread.

Now Will Ferrell isn’t absolutely nailing the comedy roles of his past these days, but there is no denying that he and Mark Wahlberg have chemistry and work well off of each other. In fact, all of the dads work well together and make the best of the writing they’re given. But the best comedic moments that actually hit are surprisingly from Scarlett Estevez as the daughter Megan. She has good timing and every one of her moments at least earned some laughter. Beyond that everything is fairly typecast and standard across the board.

It’s so standard that it’s almost predictable to a fault. Every joke is either predictable and telegraphed or completely cheap and unfunny. Admittedly one scene involving the thermostat works from every angle, but even that’s been done before in some capacity. And then there’s the seemingly constant physical humor that Ferrell has to endure that gets people to chuckle but is so simple and overused at this point that it’s hard to get more than that out of it.

Overall, Daddy’s Home 2 is a below average comedy that’s unlikely to be remembered beyond 2017 and maybe even shorter than that. It’ll please a majority of general movie going audiences for a quick 90 minutes during the upcoming holiday season, but for those looking to actually get the laughs they paid for, look elsewhere.

So what did you think of Daddy’s Home 2? Have you seen it? Are you interested in seeing it? Share, subscribe, comment below, and as always return to I Am Sam for weekly reviews and insight.