The holidays are upon us and it’s time to break out the Christmas music and decorations. Another thing that gets broken out during the silly season are the holiday movies. One of the first to come out this year is Daddy’s Home 2.
A lot of people didn’t really ask for a sequel to the first one but because it was so successful we got another it. This one felt a little bit more special because we got the dad’s of Wahlberg and Ferrell to come in on the co-dad shenanigans. We get Dusty’s (Wahlberg) dad Kurt (Mel Gibson) and Brad’s (Ferrell) dad Don (John Lithgow) to visit for the holidays. If you’ve seen movies like Meet the Parents you definitely know what’s coming even before the punchline hits. It’s passable entertainment at its best.
The movie deals with the “joys” of having to share Christmas’s with your kid’s other family cordially. At some point in there the characters realize that they are harboring ill feelings to each other because of the way each parent raises the kids. It’s not an easy task and Daddy’s Home 2 plays on it in a comical way.
The four leads do great with what they are given, but it’s Gibson who really shines here. He still has that crazy-ass look in his eye and he appears to feel at home when he’s being an asshole. But that’s a good thing people, because that is what got the best laughs in the movie. Wahlberg and Gibson work together nicely as father and son that don’t show a lot of affection. On the other hand we got Lithgow and Ferrell. Lithgow plays his part brilliantly as well and you actually believe that he is the kind of father that still kisses his grown son on the lips. Now, the only weak link in the movie has to be Will Ferrell who seems like he should be over playing these type of roles but hey, gotta pay the rent, right?
Like mentioned before the movie is passable entertainment and with the holidays creeping this movie will do for the whole family.
Catch Mando on Twitter at @manbat33 when he’s not co-hosting the @TalentedSlacker podcast!