Will Ferrell is the standout star in festive comedy Daddy’s Home 2 — and it would be an outright stinker without him
Aside from a good scene about a thermostat and a genuinely funny cameo at the end, this Christmas film is pretty standard fare
AS with most successful comedies, the formula for a sequel is to do exactly the same but with more people – a la Meet The Parents/Fockers/Little Fockers.
Daddy’s Home 2 is no exception.
As Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg’s characters are friends now, the jeopardy comes from their dads – John Lithgow and Mel Gibson.
Yup, Mel Gibson.
This is OK then, is it Hollywood?
A Christmas movie starring someone who was at the centre of domestic abuse allegations?
This is a hugely ill-judged casting move, giving what was intended to be merely a rascally roguish character a more sinister and creepy feel.
Especially when one of his jokes in this family film is about two dead prostitutes.
I’d like to say it ruins an otherwise great film, but aside from a good scene about a thermostat and a genuinely funny cameo at the end, this is pretty standard fare.
It’s a film not many people were crying out for and, were it not for Ferrell laboriously helping it along, it’d be an outright stinker.
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An overcomplicated family premise and too many different characters to care about, each with their own subplot, means this quickly becomes a patchwork quilt of pratfalls and arguments.
It carries more than a whiff of National Lampoon’s Griswolds but never holds a torch to their heart.
Daddy's Home 2 (12A) 100mins
Rating: ★★★☆☆