Daddy’s Home 2

Right in line with its lackluster predecessor, Daddy’s Home 2 follows Brad (Will Ferrell) and Dusty (Mark Wahlberg) as their attempts to celebrate a joint Christmas are sidelined by the disruptive arrival of their respective fathers (John Lithgow’s Don and Mel Gibson’s Kurt). It’s clear that Daddy’s Home 2 fares best in its surprisingly watchable opening stretch, as director Sean Anders, working from a script cowritten with John Morris, does an effective job of initially emphasizing the characters’ refreshingly low-key exploits – with the movie, at the outset, coming off as a genial hang-out comedy devoid of the predictably over-the-top silliness one might’ve anticipated (and dreaded). (It doesn’t hurt, either, that Gibson and Lithgow are fun, welcome additions to the cast.) The film’s steady, inevitable transformation into a tedious contemporary comedy is triggered by a misguided bit involving a snow blower, with Daddy’s Home 2, past that point, riddled with equally questionable elements (eg a stupid, pointless rivalry between Brad and Dusty’s wives) that pave the way for an often interminable second half (ie the movie’s midsection seems to consist entirely of the characters’ nonstop squabbling and melodramatic exploits). By the time the tough-to-swallow and desperately uplifting climax rolls around, Daddy’s Home 2 has certainly confirmed its place as a cynical, cashgrab of a sequel with few redeeming attributes.

** out of ****