Daddy Day Care Review
by Laura Clifford (laura AT reelingreviews DOT com)May 12th, 2003
DADDY DAY CARE
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Charlie (Eddie Murphy) and Phil (Jeff Garlin, "Full Frontal") take their preschoolers
Ben and Max to the playground daily after having both lost their marketing jobs.
Laid-back Phil is accepting of his lot, but Charlie is brewing for a challenge. An
off-hand compliment on their ability with children from the wife of a friend (Siobhan
Fallon, "Holes") makes a lightbulb pop over Charlie's head and he and Phil go into
partnership with "Daddy Day Care."
Supporting players save "Daddy's" day in this pleasant, fitfully amusing family comedy which
entertains despite an inconsistent script (Geoff Rodkey) and insipid direction from Steve Carr
("Dr. Dolittle 2"). Although this is a step in the right direction for Murphy, he
largely hangs back, letting costars Garlin, Zahn and Jonathan Katz shine. The children
are all well cast with the glaring exception of Khamani Griffin as Murphy's son Ben, whom Carr
covers for with one too many badly executed vocal overdubs.
Charlie and his wife (Regina King) are fast trackers who enroll Ben in Chapham Academy,
the type of preschool that begins to prepare four-year-olds for SATs. When Charlie loses
his job and the budget gets tight, the Hintons conclude that Chapman's high fees are no
longer justified. Daddy Day Care gets off to a rocky start, but the kids are having a
blast and word of mouth begins to siphon off Chapman students raising the vengeful ire
of Miss Harridan (Anjelica Huston, "The Royal Tenenbaums"), Chapman's fun-free headmistress.
If you can overlook a script that frequently wants to have things opposite ways (Daddy
Day Care can't afford commercial rent but can throw up a professional looking amusement
park to earn money) and goes too far out of its way to make points (Charlie returns to
the corporate world in order to quit the same day with the 'revelation' that his heart
lies with his kids), you'll probably enjoy "Daddy Day Care" for what it is - a cliched
but good-natured lightweight flick. Each of the kids has a cute problem to overcome
(Dylan has separation anxiety, Tony won't get out of his Flash costume, Ben has trouble
making friends, Max is still not potty trained) and not a single one of them has the
same species of animal for pet show-and-tell day. The film features an overloud soundtrack
with some hits (the Ramones "I Wanna Be Sedated" plays over a montage of sugar-rushed
kids) and more misses (more noisy out-of-control kids are accompanied by "Barroom
Blitz?").
Murphy radiates warmth as Charlie, but does little that's actually funny. He's the
businessman to Phil's entertainer. Garlin is a natural, tossing off one funny line
after another and bouncing his bulk through a kiddy mine field. Steve Zahn is always
an asset and his Marvin, the 'guy who smells the mail,' is no exception. A Star Trek
nerd who is the only one to realize that Nicky, a day care charge, only speaks Klingon,
Zahn divides him time between physical pratfalls and the movie's sweetly naive romance
with day care mom Kelly (Leila Arcieri, "XxX"). An inspired casting choice is Katz, who makes Mr.
Kubitz, the Child Services inspector wielded by Harridan, a delightfully droll straight
man to Murphy, Garlin and Zahn. Anjelica Huston plays Harradin as a headmistress right
out of an S&M bondage fantasy, but the script gives her no place to go with it. The
child actors have varying degrees of success with their roles, with the young actress who
plays the precocious Becca showing off the best facility for delivering lines with flare.
C+
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