Christmas movies come out in a bunch at this time, and so many of them from the same mould. Sean Anders’s Daddy’s Home 2, (sequel to Daddy’s Home) could be Bad Mom’s Christmas with the genders reversed.
The parenting situation in the US can be confusing for kids, still, Dusty (Mark Wahlberg) has come to some kind of truce with Brad (Will Ferrel), the stepfather of his kids. There is another dad on the scene too (Jon Cena, who is the father of one the kids of Dusty’s ex and Brad’s wife (Linda Cardellini).
Add to that two granddads — macho Kurt (Mel Gibson) and softie Don (John Lithgow) and the festive season could turn into a nightmare.
Brad and Dusty who call themselves co-dads decide to spend Christmas together, to save the three kids trouble of to-ing and fro-ing between two homes. But when the granddads decide to drop in, there’s unanticipated trouble.
Kurt is old-school in his parenting style and disapproves of this mixed family. He tries to teach one of the grandkids Dylan (Owen Vaccaro) to be more manly, and tells the girl Megan (Scarlett Estevez) that a girl’s place is in the kitchen.
This politically incorrect mess would be annoying enough, but the idea of comedy in these films involves slapstick humour, pratfalls and jokey violence, that would have been disturbing for kids if they hadn’t become so de-sensitised to on-screen violence anyway. Brad is the butt of most of the gags, and the film seems to say that a guy who is not aggressive deserves to be ridiculed.
The film is offensive in so many ways, where does one start? In this post Harvey Weinstein world, Kurt tells his grandkid who has a crush on a girl to grab kisses and slap the girl’s ass! And the alternative moron is Don who kisses his son on the lips.
The women have very little to do as the men run riot. Certainly not a film for the family to watch at Christmas time, or any time.
Rating: 1/5
