Director: John Hamburg.
Starring: James Franco, Bryan Cranston, Zoey Deutch, Megan Mullally, Griffin Gluck.
John Hamburg give us his latest comedy drama, being famed for writing the successful Meet The Parents and Zoolander movies, this film comes from the opposite angle, being the from the father's perspective. Also, Jonah Hill is on the writing/producing credits on this, though don't be expecting an appearance.
James Franco plays the obnoxious, unfiltered, yet kind hearted millionaire techno-wiz who's fallen in love with Bryan Cranston's stunning daughter, Zoey Deutch and wishes to marry her. Of course, Cranston being the proud, protective father disapproves setting the basis for this comedy. Franco does well being any father's worse nightmare, proving a good bank balance is never enough to win them over.
Megan Mullally, who plays the mother and wife, has said they had much freedom to improvise on the script where possible, and I believe it shows, not being a bad thing. She's actually one of the stronger characters, like their son, Griffin Gluck. I don't think Deutch gets enough screen time but it's mostly about Cranston character. The dad who desperately wants what he believes is the best for his daughter.
Being a popular, over-extravagant millionaire Franco's character has a mass of famous names meaning cameo after cameo, including Steve Aoki, Elon Musk and a self-ridiculing Richard Blais.
The soundtrack is good as expected but still no amazing scenes that films like Bad Moms managed to take full advantage of on more than one occasion. I suppose a couple of scenes come close but nothing that stands out, even with Aoki at the decks.
Unfortunately, it makes the mistake many of these films do, which is show many of the key gags in the trailers which results in making the rest of the comedy feel like little fillers. It is funny but there isn't enough comedy to keep me entertained giving the best lines to Big Bang Theory's Penny, Kaley Cuoco and Keegan-Michael Key.
It's a funny, awkward film with some clever script writing, a festive comedy to add to the Christmas movies list but is far off being one of the great comedies of the year.
Running Time: 6
The Cast: 7
Performance: 7
Direction: 6
Story: 6
Script: 7
Creativity: 5
Soundtrack: 5
Job Description: 5
The Extra Bonus Point: 0
54% 5/10
