A couple years ago, Paramount Pictures tried to corner the market on family comedy during the holiday season by releasing Daddy’s Home in theaters just a couple weeks before Christmas. Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg going head-to-head was enough to rake in over $ 150 million at the domestic box office, so the studio fast-tracked the sequel for release this winter, and they’re really leaning into the holiday comedy angle hard this time.
Daddy’s Home 2 finds Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg friendlier than ever as they decide to bring both of their families together for Christmas for the first time ever rather than house-hopping like they usually do. That plan gets a little more complicated when Dusty (Wahlberg) finds out that his father (Mel Gibson) will be joining in the holiday fun this year, and he’s a far cry from Brad’s (Ferrell) lighthearted dad (John Lithgow). Plus, a new Daddy’s Home 2 trailer reveals that John Cena is getting in on the Christmas clashing with a much bigger role than he had in the first movie.
Watch the Daddy’s Home 2 Trailer
If you had any hope that the sequel wouldn’t be going for the run of the mill family comedy box office money, this trailer debuted exclusively on The Ellen Show, the most safe daytime program on television. And the comedy on display features the lesser kind of humor that made the first one less enjoyable than it could have been.
My biggest problem with the first Daddy’s Home is the unbelievable slapstick nature of some of the jokes. Will Ferrell crashing a motorcycle through a house or getting electrocuted by power lines after skateboarding too high off a halfpipe in the back yard like some kind of Wile E. Coyote cartoon was just ludicrous. Sadly, that kind of dumb comedy is back, this time with a lame National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation angle of Will Ferrell trying to cut down a cellphone tower instead of a Christmas tree.
Look, I know that family comedies are a necessity so that there can be movies that bring laughs for everyone, no matter how old they are. But that doesn’t mean the comedy can’t be clever. This movie doesn’t have to be R-rated to be funny, but it doesn’t have to be full of a bunch of pratfalls and nonsense either. Plus, that snowflake lines feels desperate to appeal to more conservative families who don’t like liberal comedy sensibilities.
Daddy’s Home 2 is directed by Sean Anders, and I hope that like the original, it turns out to be a little better than the trailers indicated.
In Daddy’s Home 2, father and stepfather, Dusty (Mark Wahlberg) and Brad (Will Ferrell) have joined forces to provide their kids with the perfect Christmas. Their newfound partnership is put to the test when Dusty’s old-school, macho Dad (Mel Gibson) and Brad’s ultra-affectionate and emotional Dad (John Lithgow) arrive just in time to throw the holiday into complete chaos.
Daddy’s Home 2 hits theaters on November 10, 2017.
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