Film Reviews

Daddy Day Care

• Rating:
• Director: Steve Carr.
• Starring: Eddie Murphy, Jeff Garlin, Steve Zahn, Regina King, Khamani Griffin, Kevin Nealon, Jonathan Katz, Siobhan Fallon Hogan, Anjelica Huston, Lacey Chabert.
• Details: US / 92 mins / (G).

You have to hand it to Eddie Murphy, the guy knows how to make bad movies. Indeed, rarely in the history of motion pictures has there been an actor (Madonna doesn't count), who seems as pathologically intent on making a such mess of their own careers. That Daddy Day Care continues this trend shouldn't come as much of a surprise. That it manages to do so in such a spectacularly unfunny, unsympathetic fashion is a little disconcerting. While he manages to keep a lid on the most abrasive aspects of his personality, Murphy doesn't deliver much else in his performance as stressed ad executive, Charlie Hinton. He, along with his buddy Phil (Jeff Garlin) are fired early on. Unable to find any other work, the duo opens a day care facility, roping in the mailroom boy Marvin (Zahn). One inauspicious start later, and the guys pick up their game, a dent in the business of uber nasty sort, Miss Harridan (Huston), the driving force behind a rival facility. Where, oh where, to start with Daddy Day Care? Directed with a ruthless banality by Steve Carr, Daddy Day Care is one of those deeply unadventurous 'comedies', the sort of which are usually encountered on long haul flights. Relentless in its pursuit of mediocrity, the film is likely only to appeal to the kids around the same age as its co-stars. And even they might tire of its plodding ways rather quickly.

Review by Garreth Murphy