Starring: Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg, Linda Cardelline and Thomas Haden Church. Script by Brian Burns, Sean Anders and John Morris. Directed by Sean Anders. 96 minutes long. Budget $50 million.
Hooray, it's another Will Ferrell movie, his second cinematic release of the year! And I for one am thrilled, particularly after the success of Get Hard – that non-hilarious, laughter-free movie about Will Ferrell being sent to prison for crimes against cinema, in it he played a bland, generic comedic actor forced to perform oral sex and suffer gang rape in a bid to land a role in a new film about a wall street Joe being sent to prison for insider dealing who ends up forced to perform oral sex and suffer gang rape. The film was absolutely devoid of laughter and so the prospect of seeing him in another film in the same year, this time teaming up once again with professional cardboard cut-out Marky Mark Mark Wall-berg was too much to ignore!
This time round, Hollywood's favourite comedic everyman, Will Ferret (replacing Steve Martin for the title) brings his patented genius 'everyman' personna to the role of a radio station executive and loving step-father to two movie brats thus ensuring that not much hilarity doth ensue, particularly when Wall-burg, the brat's real father, muscle rippling bad boy comes into town to steal the love and affection of the two children whose names I can't remember. Then it's a dad off as the two men go head to head in a series of set pieces to show the two children that money can buy love.
Adhering strictly to the 3 act structure so loved by Hollywood, this film remains implausible and ridiculous right up until the final act when Will Fennel is humiliated by Wallyborg and leaves home and Mark discovers that being a dad is hard work and that Will Fertile is actually a good dad, then it's a race to save the day for the female child actor at a daughter/father dance and watch as the boy child actor punches a 4th grade girl to the floor and kicks her squarely in the jewels, just so the dads can take part in a dance off that brings everybody together for the happy ending.
Actually it's only at the end does this film vaguely redeem itself and it manages to lift itself up from a score of 3 or 4 to one of 5 or 6. Cos, oddly enough the end where the two dads are now friends and everything is good is actually quite funny. Not very funny, but quite. You'll feel a twinge of warmth in your heart and will leave with a slight smile. Along the way, you'll laugh occasionally and maybe even chuckle once or twice.
This is by a country mile, the best Wilf Fecal film of the year and he's gone from a piffling 3/10 for Get Hard to a stellar 5/10, that's nearly double! Wow, well done Willy.
5/10
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