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Review by Eric Hillis (@hilliseric)
Directed by: Sean Anders
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Will Ferrell, Linda Cardellini, Thomas Haden Church
For a while it appears as if Daddy's Home may have more to offer than you might imagine. Soon however it unspools in rote fashion like a well-promoted version of a straight to video comedy Chevy Chase might have headlined 20 years ago.
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In recent years we've seen an explosion of product placement in Hollywood productions; who can forget 2013's extended commercial The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, in which Ben Stiller attempted to sell us a multitude of endorsed products and services. Or that same year's action sequel Red 2, which paused said action to break for a pizza commercial? In Daddy's Home we have yet more product placement, perhaps even more shameless than the aforementioned examples, with the movie book-ended by scenes in which Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg espouse the virtues of a particular model of people carrier. In between, a significant subplot is devoted to telling us of the unique appeal of a certain baked goods store.
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For a while it appears as if Daddy's Home may have more to offer than you might imagine. The soundtrack, a parody of sitcom music, suggests we might be in for some postmodern Brady Bunch Movie style commentary. The Ferrell-Cardellini relationship seems to be a play on the old sitcom trope of pairing off a schlub with a wife well out of his league, the dynamic threatened by the arrival of Wahlberg, a far more realistic partner for Cardellini. Soon however it becomes apparent that the film has no such intention as it unspools in rote fashion like a well-promoted version of a straight to video comedy Chevy Chase might have headlined 20 years ago.
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