Daddy Day Care (Movie Review)
Daddy Day Care is one of the most sloppily put together movies in recent memory. It relies on cheap sentimentality, slapstick humor and bodily functions as well as shots to the groin to get by.
The movie stars Eddie Murphy as a father who is absentminded and Jeff Garlin, a father who starts his own daddy daycare with disastrous results. Daddy Day Care is rated PG for crude humor, including toilet gags, and a little profanity.
1. Daddy Daycare – Eddie Murphy
After losing their jobs at an advertising agency, Charlie Hinton (Eddie Murphy) and Phil Ryerson (TV’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm”) decide to become stay-at-home fathers. They could not afford childcare for Ben so they started Daddy Day Care.
When Miss Harridan (Renee Zellweger) notices that the kids at Daddy Day Care are doing better than her students at Chapman, she attempts to shut them down by notifying child services. Dan Kubitz informs them that they’re beyond the regulated number of children in a single household, so they have to either remove two of the kids or find a permanent facility.
Fortunately, Marvin (a nerdy former co worker) informs Charlie and Phil of a vacant building with potential. They hold a fundraiser for the new day care, dubbed Rock for Daddy Day Care, with Cheap Trick as the headliners. Despite Miss Harridan infiltrating the event with her hesitant assistant Jennifer, they raise enough money to buy the building. They also convince parents of the need to send their children to Daddy Day Care. Chapman is left struggling to compete.
2. Daddy Daycare – Regina King
Charlie, along with Phil, is forced to start Daddy Day Care after six weeks of unsuccessful job searching. Initially, local parents are suspicious but soon choose Daddy Day Care as it is cheaper and has a more child-centered approach than Chapman. Infuriated, Miss Harridan attempts to shut them down by notifying child services. However, Charlie and Phil quickly rectify problems pointed out by Dan Kubitz, a director of child services, and hire Marvin, a nerdy former co worker.
When they hold a children’s festival for charity, Miss Harridan and her hesitant assistant Jennifer try to sabotage the event by deflating the bouncy castle, replacing face paint with glue, and putting cockroaches in the food. Charlie decides to bring the children back to Chapman. Phil convinces him that they can reopen Daddy Day Care at a permanent location in town. To raise money, they host a fundraiser with Cheap Trick as their musical guest. However, when they find out that the food company will offer them their old jobs at double their previous salaries, they decide to accept.
3. Daddy Daycare – Jeff Garlin
When Charlie Hinton (Eddie Murphy) and Phil Harris (TV’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm” star Jeff Garlin) lose their jobs selling a vegetable-flavored breakfast cereal, they decide to open up Daddy Day Care at their home. Charlie and Phil are able to help the children adjust to their new fathers. At first they have a difficult time, but eventually, they begin to thrive. They even beat Chapman Academy, run by Miss Harridan. This caused her to call child services. Miss Harridan, however, notices that the number of children at the charity event with Cheap Trick is above the allowed number. She tries to sabotage it by deflating a bouncy castle and putting cockroaches into the food.
Despite the premise being a bit of a retread, Eddie Murphy delivers an enjoyable performance as always. He and Garlin work well together, but the film would have been much more successful if it had tapped into its expansive comedic reserves. The movie also features a surprisingly good supporting turn from Regina King.
4. Daddy Daycare – Anjelica Huston
After being laid off, Charlie and Phil decided to open a home daycare with their son Ben. Miss Harridan, who fears they will compete with her center and wants to shut them down, notifies child services. Charlie and Phil hire a former mail room clerk named Marvin to help out, and their business becomes successful.
But despite a plethora of gags involving flatulence, bodily functions and shots to the groin, the film fails to deliver any meaningful laughs. It treats fatherhood as a game show, rather than a serious social issue.
When a scheming Miss Harridan finds out about the fundraiser, she and her hesitant assistant Jennifer conspire to sabotage the event by deflating the bouncy castle, releasing the animals from the petting zoo, spraying face paint on the children, and putting cockroaches in their food. Meanwhile, Marvin and the children bond with each other, making Daddy Day Care even more popular. Eventually, men start to enjoy running day cares and kids become happier and healthier.
5. Daddy Daycare – MaryWet
Mary Wet is hired by Jim and Phil to help them when Miss Harridan tries closing Daddy Day Care due to the fact that they have too many children in a home. They then infiltrate a children’s festival and sabotage everything by deflating the bouncy castle, releasing the animals from the petting zoo, painting faces with glue, putting cockroaches in food, and bribing the groundskeeper into turning on the sprinklers. Mary wet is thrilled.