49. Daddy's Home 2

In 2015, we saw Daddy's Home in between Christmas and New Year. There's always that weird bit in between those two days, where some people are at work, some people aren't. You feel strange because just as you've stopped feeling christmassy you are ready for New Year and there is more prep to do, and more excitement to be had. That's if you celebrate either of them, of course, but I love New Year so much. It's when you can spend an evening with your friends, we don't tend to go out as it's so expensive, but we play games and dance until we fall over or are sick. Anyway.

So when we saw Daddy's Home in 2015, it was a filler activity, and actually it was better than anticipated. It's definitely got that laddy humour, and it's definitely silly and daft, but it gave that light relief and is a bit of a feel good film. As much as I prefer tongue in cheek, or political, or 'clever' humour, there is no doubt in my mind that Will Ferrell is an absolute genius. Anchorman is one of my favourite films ever.

So back to our sequel. The adverts and trailers I'd seen reminded me of how much I enjoyed the first film, and I was looking forward to seeing the next chapter. Again, I knew what I was getting myself into, it was going to be silly and light hearted. This time, the story follows Brad (Ferrell) and Dusty's (Mark Wahlberg) Christmas, as their fathers join them. Brad is the stepfather to Dusty's children, but following the original film, the sort their differences and manage to share the care for the children without argument. Brad's father is overbearingly kind and loving, but there is something else going on behind this, and Dusty's dad is cold and cool, not understanding of the 'co-dad' arrangement between Dusty and Brad. Following the arrangement of a Christmas holiday for the entire family, the plot is littered with ridiculous disasters that happen as the fathers work out their differences.

Now whereas with The Disaster Artist I left saying 'that was fantastic', I left Daddy's Home 2 with 'that was ridiculous'. The plot was weak, the whole premise was almost exactly the same as the previous film, and there was nothing overly exciting about it. I did laugh throughout the film, but I can't tell you any of the jokes now. There was nothing memorable. It seemed like a film for a film's sake. All of the most humorous parts were previewed in the trailers. There was nothing new. I have to be honest and say that this is one of the poorer films I have seen this year.

If you like a silly film, and you just want something easy to watch, then it does the job. But why not watch Shrek instead. The marvellous masterpiece that is Shrek. Daddy's Home 2 gets a 4/10 from me.