Daddy's Home (2015) * 1/2

Directed by:  Sean Anders

Starring:  Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg, Linda Cardellini, Bobby Cannavale, Thomas Haden Church, Hannibal Buress

Let me get this out of the way:  Daddy's Home is superior to The Other Guys, the 2010 Ferrell/Wahlberg film I actually walked out on.    Ferrell and Wahlberg were anchored to a terribly unfunny script there and nothing could save it.    This is not strong praise for Daddy's Home.   You would think they would find a smarter comedy to team up for this time around.     Nope.   They take the path of least resistance even when the movie threatens to actually work.    Why go through the effort of generating laughs based on real human nature if you can just have Ferrell nearly killed in a motorcycle accident?    Or thrown into a wall?   Or have a drunken Ferrell peg a basketball off of a poor cheerleader's head?    

There was once upon a time when such humor was funny.    Like when I was in third grade.    It is disconcerting that comedies go for cheap laughs aimed at a third grader's mentality.    Slapstick is something that needs to be used sparingly and the timing has to be impeccable.    Otherwise, you begin to speculate whether someone actually was hurt.     Daddy's Home represents a day off for these actors who have proven they can do much better.    

The trailers tell the whole story.    A nice, milquetoast man named Brad (Ferrell) marries a nice woman with two kids who don't take to Brad despite his best efforts.     The matters worsen when the kids' biological father Dusty (Wahlberg) enters the picture in a not-so-subtle attempt to win his family back.     Brad doesn't want to create friction, so he invites Dusty to stay in his home.     He may as well give him the deed to the house.    

The two dads engage in an escalating battle of one-upmanship to impress the kids and Sarah.    None of the stunts are funny.    The two guys grow into insufferable jerks.    The funniest actors in the movie aren't even Ferrell or Wahlberg, but Thomas Haden Church, who plays Brad's blunt, inappropriate boss and Hannibal Buress, who plays a handyman Brad fires at Dusty's urging but soon lives in Brad's house.     I won't go into how this happens, except that it is racially charged and the whole episode seems out of place in a family comedy.    Church and Buress generate the most laughs as outsiders to the plot.  

Brad is likable and the obviously more qualified father figure.    Dusty is a lout who sprints from responsibility like a gazelle chased by a cheetah.     Because Daddy's Home is predictable and unimaginative, we know the two will become allies as surely as night follows day.     This leads to a showdown with another bullying parent at a school dance that ends in a dance-off.     I suppose this is funny...in another universe.   

Ferrell and Wahlberg appear to having more fun on this film than The Other Guys.    Wahlberg, in that film, looked upset that he even had to show up on set.     Ferrell simply flailed around with nonsense.     Daddy's Home actually had potential to be a decent comedy about the issues stepfathers encounter with their new families.      Instead, we are stuck with a movie that goes for cheap laughs out of sheer laziness.    Then, it tries for earnestness after these two guys spend the first 90 minutes as enemies.     We shouldn't be surprised by this, just disappointed that Ferrell and Wahlberg can't seem to find a project worthy of their talents. 

p.s.   The movie sounds like it is set in California and the characters attend a "Lakers game", yet the action occurs on the New Orleans Pelicans' home floor even though the Lakers are assumed to be the home team.    Just saying.