Daddy's Home: Movie Review

Daddy's Home stars Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg as a stepfather and biological father fighting to gain the love of their two children. What could have been a good family comedy about a conscientious stepfather having to deal with the reappearance of a derelict, but dynamic, dad devolves into yet another vulgar adult comedy, with plenty of foul language, crude comedy and drunken stupors.

Ferrell plays Brad, who works hard to gain the respect and affection of his two stepchildren, Megan and Dylan. Just as he begins to feel he’s making progress, he learns that Dusty (Wahlberg), the children’s muscle-bound, motorcycle-riding father, is coming to town. Brad, relying on his How to Be a Great Stepfather manual, tries to befriend Dusty and show him respect.

The comedy in this set-up could have made for a movie more like the Beethoven series, but it quickly devolves into a crass, vulgar contest involving sexual organs and bad language. Brad’s boss comes into the movie several times with sick stories about his wife’s adultery.

Finally, in frustration, Brad takes the family to a Los Angeles Lakers game, where he gets stone drunk and embarrasses himself and his family.

Daddy's Home does have high moments where good values are promoted, but they are far outweighed by the movie’s crass content and foul language. The production values are good and the acting appropriate for a comedy.

A cleaner version of this movie could do much better at the box office. As it is, however, Daddy's Home, which stars young children, is unfit for children, even though it could have been something families enjoyed together and could even have been truly uplifting.

In reality, many families actually face difficult issues regarding relationships between parents and stepparents. The best manual for dealing with this is the Bible. Jesus teaches us about grace, forgiveness and patience. It can be a huge challenge, but God can help.