Movie List


Daddy Day Care
Director: Steve Carr
Actors: Eddie Murphy (as Charlie Hinton), Jeff Garlin (as Phil), Steve Zahn (as Marvin), Regina King (as Kim Hinton), Kevin Nealon (as Bruce), Jonathan Katz (as Dan Kubitz), Siobhan Fallon (as Peggy (as Siobhan Fallon Hogan)), Lisa Edelstein (as Crispin's Mom), Lacey Chabert (as Jenny), Laura Kightlinger (as Sheila), Leila Arcieri (as Kelli), Anjelica Huston (as Mrs. Gwyneth Harridan), Khamani Griffin (as Ben Hinton), Max Burkholder (as Max), Arthur Young (as Nicky)
Country: USA
Category: Comedy
Year: 2003
Description: Two men get laid off and have to become stay-at-home dads when they can't find jobs. This inspires them to open their own day-care center. (more) (view trailer)
Comments: Daddy Day Care

Charlie (Eddie Murphy) has just been fired from his beloved marketing position. Stuck back at home with his wife (Regina King) and son, Charlie tries hard to find a job in an economy that cannot help him at all. Taking over the home duties while his wife returns to work, Charlie has the idea to start a day-care service to make ends meet. Recruiting his buddy (Jeff Garlin), and a former colleague (Steve Zahn) to help run the business, the team opens `Daddy Day Care,' and it soon becomes a smash hit, much to the chagrin of a local pre-school teacher (a slumming Angelica Huston) who is watching her students drop out for Charlie's service by the dozens.

In the year 2003, there are now two Eddie Murphys. Eddie The Comedian is a fast-talking, sparklingly vulgar individual who rose to fame in `48 Hrs,' and `Beverly Hills Cop.' Eddie The Dad is a more peaceful man, letting the supporting players crack the jokes, as seen in `Doctor Dolittle' and its sequel. 2002 was a rough year for Eddie The Comedian, with his misguided `Pluto Nash,' and the corrosive `I Spy' and `Showtime' tanking woefully at the box office and with audiences. `Daddy Day Care' brings back Eddie The Dad in a film that's exceedingly safe, and incredibly reliable. Much like the two `Dolittle' films, `Day Care' is vanilla material, featuring an oddly contented Eddie Murphy, who at one point in his career had the most dangerous comedic vision of them all.

We all have to grow up sometime, but with Murphy, growing up means being declawed. `Day Care' a good example of Murphy not wanting to be `Eddie Murphy' anymore. It's pleasant enough family comedy, heavy on the sweetness, and with a large amount of jokes aimed directly at the kids who've never seen Murphy at his peak. But it doesn't feature one belly laugh for the adults. Bringing back his `Dolittle 2' director Steve Carr, Murphy seems to have everybody else in the cast on specific instructions to be funnier than he is. And being the straight man is not where Murphy's gifts are. All `Day Care' expects of Murphy is for him to watch kids be cute, and to have his two co-stars fall down a whole bunch, while Murphy reacts to it. Admittedly, this does work for some of Carr's ideas, including one kid who speaks only in Klingon (a small section of the large `Star Trek` theme running through the film), and another who idolizes the comic book hero, The Flash. It isn't nearly enough, with `Day Care' so concerned with being nice and available to all audiences, that it sacrifices charm, wit, and those precious laughing fits that should've been here.

So what happens when the kids are only marginally adorable, and the adults aren't even trying? Well, according to Carr, you just pile on the tried and true bathroom humor, which frankly does belong more in `Day Care' than in other films. I just wish it wasn't so obviously used as a lazy device to get the kids in the audience to laugh.

`Daddy Day Care' is actually a step up from Murphy's past year of flops, but it's missing those instinctual elements that the comedian needs to rediscover. He may be a father now, and have a new legion of fans in diapers, but Murphy needs to find his center again, or else he'll be stuck playing dads for the rest of his career. ----- 5/10

Languages: English
Subtitles: Greek
Length: 92 Min
Number Of Cd's: 1