Rating: 3 stars

In only their second movie together, Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell play characters with polar-opposite personalities, different views on matters and often contradict each other. Brad Whitaker (Ferrell) is the smooth jazz radio station worker, lame and emotional stepdad who is just trying to have a loving relationship with his children and earn the coveted title of “Dad.” Once Megan (Scarlett Estevez), Whitaker’s daughter, invites Brad to the daddy-daughter dance and Brad starts to tear up and cry, showing the softness inside of him.

However, when Dusty finds out that Brad is the official stepdad, he rushes home years after he wasn’t there for his children. Sarah (Linda Cardellini), the wife, warns Brad not to befriend Dusty as he is “combination of Jesse James and Mick Jagger.” Although that is one of the reasons why Sarah left Dusty, her kids are glad to have their motorcycle riding, muscular and raconteur father back in their lives. Brad is skeptical of Dusty trying to win his family back over, but sees the importance of the children being able to spend time with their biological dad and lets Dusty stay with the family, which is where the humor begins and conflicts between the want-to-be-parents commences.

Ferrell gives fans his usual style of comedy after by driving Dusty’s motorcycle into the house and through the wall when he says, “No, I’m not OK! I’m in a wall and I’m scared!” Wahlberg shows off his masculine persona (think Pain and Gain) by punching the wall Ferrell is in and letting him fall down. This certain scene was a diamond in the ruff, full of the classic humor that each actor has in their toolbox. However, this repetition was also one of the main problems of Daddy’s Home, because most scenes had the actors doing actions very similar to the one before in hope of a quick laugh from the audience, and the main actors didn’t step outside the comfort zone at all, making the picture unimaginative and routine.

Throughout the movie, Dusty ensues a competition with Brad to see who will become the man of the house, and Dusty wins almost every time by completing amazing feats like building a treehouse and a skating ramp in the backyard, while also introducing the kids to sports figures. Brad isn’t going down without a fight, however, and runs the day-to-day operations of driving the kids to school, being a tour guide on field trips and being involved in school functions, and does so in a comical yet convincing manner, proving that he should be the parent. But, Brad digs himself into a hole when he gets intoxicated at the Pelicans game and throws a tantrum during halftime which gets him getting kicked out of the game, and eventually his own home. This part of the movie, although sweet in the sense that they both want to parent the children, also keeps Wahlberg and Ferrell trapped in their usual style of performance, leaving Daddy’s Home bland and expected.

The battle that takes place between Dusty and Brad throughout the movie is what makes it silly, crude and a family-oriented. For 135 minutes the humor of the two characters gives the audience something to laugh about with unusual dialogue and actions. However, the fact that Wahlberg and Ferrell portrayed their normal roles in comedy movies made this one somewhat easy to anticipate. Both actors portrayed their characters in a familiar way and brought out the best in each character, and even with its minor issues, Daddy’s Home proves to be an enjoyable and heart-warming picture geared for all ages.

Daddy’s Home (2015)

Rating: PG-13

Directed by Sean Anders