DADDY’S HOME TWO

US, 2017, 100 minutes, Colour.
Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg, Mel Gibson, John Lithgow, Linda Cardellini, Alessandra Ambrosio, Owen Vaccaro, Didi Costine.
Directed by Sean Anders.

The lesson that reviewers need to learn is that they should not always sit at a preview with other reviewers, often solemnly po-faced during comedies. It might be better to sit in with a crowd of younger people who love the slapstick, are not afraid to laugh out loud, who offer a rollicking response to a film. Certainly the case with Daddy’s Home Two.

Hollywood has the habit of making several films on similar themes at the same time, so

At the end of 2016, equal time for family films… Bad Moms and Daddy’s Home.

Popular with audiences and commercial success. So

At the end of 2017, equal time for family films… Bad Moms 2 and Daddy’s Home Two’


But, both sequels have a lot in common. Both of them have a Christmas setting and announce at various times how many days it is before Christmas. And, thankfully, both have an acknowledgement that Christmas is a celebration of the birth of Christ, midnight mass and carols with the Moms, a crib tableau with the dads, though some mayhem ensues…

But the great brainwave for the success of Bad Moms 2 was to introduce the grandmothers, some Bad Grandmoms. For Daddy’s Home Two we are introduced to the grandfathers. Since we already know the father’s, Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg, we might guess that one is going to be roly-poly sweet and the other is not, definitely not. And they are played by John Lithgow enjoying himself immensely as a sweetness and light kind grandfather and by Mel Gibson who obviously relishes Kurt by name and curt by nature.

The situation in the first film was that the two fathers, completely unlike, Will Ferrell a kindly and gawky Brad, while Mark Wahlberg is rough and tough, Dusty. The film’s film was based on the premise of divorced families and the custody of the children, the two families in question, some of the children shared. The idea is that the families should actually work together, some co-parenting, all celebrating Christmas together. This sequel takes this for granted and that Brad and Dusty are firmly committed to it.

Don, John Lithgow, endorses his son more than 100%, lots of affectionate talk and embraces and kisses, lots of patter of the warm and cuddly type. Kurt has not been around for years, was an ineffectual parent, an astronaut, away from home, a womaniser, and severe and mocking with Mel Gibson’s glowering look.

What happens is to be expected – though there is lots of slapstick comedy, lots of pratfalls, ridiculous situations which led to a lot of laughter from the audience.

How are they all going to manage? Brad’s wife is loving? His stepchildren love him too? Dusty has a rather serious, glamorous wife, who is continually noting down details in her book for her writing. She has a rather sullen daughter. How are they going to manage?

Kurt not only has a bright idea, going away for Christmas, but instantly books an AirB&B on his phone. It takes five hours to get there by car and Kurt learns something of purgatory as he listens to Don and Brad going on and on and on so cheerfully.

Settling in, setting up the decorations – a sure sign for all kinds of things to go wrong. And, of course, they do. There is also a rivalry which results in Brad not only cutting down a Christmas tree but the tree which contains cell-phone connections. There is the fore-mentioned crib and quite a lot of snowballs.

There is a touch of pathos because Don has come by himself, saying that his wife has been held back by family illness. Rusty tweaks what has happened and when Don volunteers to entertain at an improv cafe, with Brad urging him on, Don has an emotional collapse.

So, with things turning out badly, on Christmas Day they set out for home only to be caught in bumper-to-bumper traffic by an avalanche. Fortunately, there is cinema complex nearby and all the motorists go there is something to eat and drink and a movie. The film that family actually goes into see is an action thriller with Liam Neeson, called Missile Tow, Neeson being heard but not seen.

Actually, that could be quite a good title for a thriller at Christmas! Missile Tow.

We all know it’s going to end well – but, with Kurt being as he is, it is rather restrained (except for his giving his son a big long kiss!).

And so, in 2018, where will the Bad Moms go? Where can Daddy’s Home Three go?

1. A popular sequel? Family themes? Split families? Custody and care of children?

2. The cast, their comic styles, combination?

3. The Christmas setting, announcing the days to Christmas? The northern hemisphere, snow, the resort? Shopping, Santa Claus? The crib? Decorating the houses? The musical score, songs and hymns?

4. The theme of co-fathering? As established in the original film? The two dads and their collaboration, becoming friends? The relationship with the wives? Roger, the outsider, his daughter? Altogether, the effect? The effect on the children and whom they went to for advice and support?

5. The theme of adding the grandfathers? Apprehensions? At the airport? Kurt, his arrival, Grim? Don, gushing, Brad’s response reaction, kissing? Kurt’s reaction?

6. The film with all its slapstick, pratfalls, at the performance, the playground, at home, decorating the house, the crib?

7. Brad, Will Ferrell, soft and nice, Don even nicer? The kiss, the jokes together? The contrast with Dusty and Kurt? Mark Wahlberg and Mel Gibson? Dusty apprehensive about his father, his father’s absence? Kurt condemning Brad and Don for being so soft?

8. Kurt, the background of his being an astronaut, absent from home, womaniser, macho image?

9. Dusty, Roger, the daughter, the episode with the heating and thermostat? Assertive American children?

10. Kurt, the idea of going away for Christmas, the five hour drive, Don and Brad playing verbal games, Kurt bored? Dusty throwing the case away when he couldn’t fit it in the car?

11. Setting up, settling in? The wives, the contribution, the wife noting down character and conversations in her notebook? Their going shopping, the shoplifting? Santa, the little girl’s requests? The gun? The children amongst themselves, the little girl and the gun, the shooting and her aggressive attitude? Kurt’s response? Don’s response? The comment on American propensity for guns?

12. The little boy, his shyness, the sex talk with his father, the kiss, the little girls, the Asian girl?

13. Decorating the house, the slapstick and disasters? Bread cutting down the tree and cutting off cell phone linkage? The tree in the house?

14. The scene of the crib, the atmosphere of Christmas, the baby in the manger, everyone having a role, the beginning of arguments and rivalries? Snowballs and Don being knocked over?

15. Going to the improv, Don and his skills, his eagerness, the set up, the divorce, Dusty alert to what had happened? Brad not realising it, urging his father on? Don and his breakdown, admitting the truth?

16. Kurt, going off with the woman?

17. Roger, his arrival, strong reaction, his daughter? The rivalries? The song and everybody sharing, Roger’s favourite song?

18. Going home, the avalanche, the cinema, refreshments, going into the film, the Liam Neeson film, Missile Tow, Don wanting only PG films, the language…?

19. Everybody in the cinema, at the airport, Don leaving and his wife arriving with the La Guardia airport disaster hero, Sally? And Kurt giving Dusty a big long kiss!