Daddy's Home 2

UK Release Date. 22 November 2017
Certification. 12A
Running Time. 1 hour 40 mins
Director. Sean Anders
Cast. Linda Cardellini, Will Ferrell, Mel Gibson, John Lithgow, Mark Wahlberg.
Rating. 9%

Review.

An excerpt from my review of Daddy's Home,

"In Daddy's Home, Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg star in a tedious and formulaic alpha-male comedy about two wildly different father figures vying for the attention of Sara's (Linda Cardellini) children."

Sean Anders' Daddy's Home hardly set the world alight, nonetheless, Paramount Pictures believed there was a need for a sequel. The few positive moments that could be drawn from Daddy's Home are regurgitated and amplified in Daddy's Home 2, but of more concern is the change in tone to an even more mean-spirited, overly transgressive, and roundly inappropriate offering.

The casting of Mel Gibson as Kurt, a routinely antagonistic, insensitive and lecherous elder patriarch, was no doubt meant to be provocative, given the actor's troubled past involving alcohol misuse and assault allegations. But his entire on-screen presence feels forced - bitter and sour by default, his character quickly becomes repellant. For example, his advice to his 11-year-old grandson on how to treat girls is to "slap her on the caboose" is tasteless and inappropriate.

And whilst the climatic use of Band Aid's 'Do They Know It's Christmas' is meant to engender Christmas spirit, its execution is beyond crass, as Showcase Cinema employees distribute Coca-Cola, Sprite and assorted snacks to vapid, anonymous cinema-goers to the line 'Feed the world." Only in America!