Sean Anders’ comedy “Daddy’s Home 2” is the perfect film to bring families together to laugh about the chaos Christmas time can bring.
In the first movie, step father Brad (Will Ferrell) and father Dusty (Mark Wahlberg) compete to win over their shared family during christmas with many laughable moments for the audience to enjoy. In the second movie the co parenting dads create a “together holiday” for the kids so they don’t have to be shuttled back and forth from family to family during the holidays.
The sequel continued the original plot but added a twist when their fathers Kurt (Mel Gibson) and Don (John Lithgow) come into town, who like Dusty and Brad, are also complete opposites. The expansion of the family dynamic puts Brad and Dusty’s new and improved relationship to the test, by adding even more chaos to the mixed family holiday.
Adding famous actor, Gibson, to the second movie was a successful way of keeping the audience engaged and adding somewhat raunchy jokes. Gibson played the tough guy who made many jokes mostly aimed to make fun of Brad and his also sensitive father throughout the movie. The inappropriate lady killer even made jokes about strippers to the kids and taught them how to shoot turkeys. Dusty and Brad’s co-parenting relationship hit a bump in the road when Gibson books a family getaway in the snow, adding even more laughs and fights than the first movie. Even Dusty and Brad’s wives had some minor conflict about their choice on how to raise the kids, which was the perfect addition to the mainly male acted film.
The last act brings the family together to see a movie but another twist is added when the roads are closed, forcing the family to set aside their issues and enjoy each other’s company. “Daddy’s Home 2” had some funny scenes that kept the audience engaged but the vulgar humor was a bit too much at times. Of course this is not going to be an Oscar nomination but it was not made for that reason. It is the perfect light hearted film to bring the family together and laugh at all the silly, sometimes stupid jokes the film has to offer!