Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

Daddy's Home Blu-ray Movie Review

One-upMANship.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman March 21, 2016

"Mom, dad, two kids" defines the classic nuclear family. "Mom, dad, two kids, another dad or mom, and his or her or their kids" comes closer to reality. Daddy's Home is the latest Comedy from Sean Anders (Horrible Bosses 2). It's about a typical suburban family unit that's upset when the biological father re-enters the picture and all that the stepfather has built with his makeshift family becomes unglued. Manhood is challenged, accidents happen, money is splurged, and even a few lessons are learned as the dueling daddies duke it out for the love and affection they so crave from children who are old enough to call shenanigans when they see them but too young to really grasp the minutia of the war that's raging before their very eyes. The movie is a lot of fun, thanks in large part to its leads, and it handles otherwise delicate material with both kid gloves on and with kid gloves off, fists clenched, and plenty of mayhem on tap for a very entertaining playdate with two of Hollywood's most energetic stars going at it for winner-take-all love and affection.

Rivals.

Brad Whitaker (Will Ferrell) is an executive at the nation's third-highest rated Jazz radio station. He's also married to the lovely Sara (Linda Cardellini), who came with two kids -- Megan (Scarlett Estevez) and Dylan (Owen Vaccaro) -- when they fell in love. He loves the kids, too, and wants nothing more than to be the dad they deserve. Just as things are starting to look up, when Megan invites him to her school's daddy-daughter dance and Dylan asks him for man-to-man help with some older bullies, the kids' biological father, Dusty (Mark Wahlberg), shows up. Brad is surprisingly hip to the idea, but Sara is dead-set against it. The kids, however, desperately want to see their real father, so it's three versus one voting "yay Dusty!" But things don't go so well. Dusty is everything Brad isn't: he's athletic, assertive, much more of a man's man, and most of all he's the kids' real dad. Brad quickly realizes that his back is up against the wall. He he has no choice other than to take ever increasing risks to gain the kids' affection. At the same time, Dusty engages in the process and tries to humiliate Brad along every step of the way.

Daddy's Home earns many of its laughs from the "opposites attract" approach to comedy, pitting the teddy bear-esque Ferrell against the muscled Wahlberg. It's the alpha male versus the beta male, the man who cruises in on a motorcycle versus the guy who traipses around town in a Ford Flex, the classic bad boy versus the classic mamma's boy. The pair is terrific in the leads, capturing more than the essence or spirit of the men they play but finding the emotional centers that drive them and building on believable and well defined life histories that shape their conflicting inner traits and outer qualities. The duo shares an instant and evident chemistry, whether in the quieter moments of reflection, the subtle jabs, or the all-out wars of daddy brinkmanship. Many of the laughs may not be completely unique, but they almost all work well thanks to the actors' firm grasp of the material and apparent enthusiasm for the project.

Daddy's Home manages plenty of grown-up humor without diving off the deep end into tasteless crudity. The movie thrives on piling on, starting small and growing steadily and surely towards greater and greater absurdity until the bubble finally reaches its breaking point. Eventually, the conflict speeds its tentacles further and further away from the family, impacting not just the circle closest to the family but plenty of ancillary characters and innocent victims who fall prey to the madness. The power of love sure is a curious thing, and it makes these daddies just a little insane in the brain. But it weaves together a nice little bit of emotional depth along the way, too, espousing the finer points of parenting and acknowledging that life is more curveball than it is meaty fastball, that it's about adapting and holding onto those cherished loves, even if that means spreading the love around a little bit wider than the traditional family unit encompasses.

Daddy's Home Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Daddy's Home features a proficient and enjoyable 1080p transfer. The digitally sourced image reveals spurts of source noise and nighttime blacks occasionally border on crush, but the image is otherwise good to go. Colors are healthy and vibrant, enjoying organic vitality and richness that allows all variety of hues, particularly in the kids' colorful bedroom, to present with pop yet lifelike balance. Details are consistently strong. Basic skin and clothing textures are appropriately dominant and intimately revealing. Clarity is strong enough to showcase even moderately distanced details with ease, such as faces in the crowd at the basketball game. Little odds and ends accents around the house, as well as larger appliances and objects, are likewise sharp. The digital source never leaves the movie appearing inorganically flat, favoring instead a pleasant, tactile appearance. Skin tones appear balanced. This is a very strong presentation from Paramount.

Daddy's Home Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Daddy's Home arrives on Blu-ray with a DTS:X soundtrack that adds additional "height" speakers to the classic 7.1 surround-sound setup. This review is based on a setup with four height channel speakers, equalling an 11.1 configuration. The track only boasts a few key and immediately evident moments of overhead "wow!" details. Some work a little better than others. Dusty zooms along a zip line at one point and the added overhead effect makes it sound like he's cruising right through the home theater. The sound is a little over-amped and muddled, but it's readily apparent. Public address announcements heard during an NBA playoff game sound right on top of the listener. The daddy-daughter dance near film's end offers some hefty overhead musical details. More general music presentations are fine, whether sharp 80s Metal guitar riffs or more bass-heavy Hip-Hop beats. Clarity is strong, lyrics enjoy firm front-center placement, and instrumentals spread all through the listening area. Background ambient effects are thoroughly immersive, whether nighttime crickets, dribbles and crowd din during the pre game shoot around at that aforementioned playoff game, or little bits of bustle at an airport. A few crashes hit adequately hard and mayhem is always presented vigorously and with strong detailing. Dialogue is center focused but runs into some serious problems at a few points. Brad's drunken microphone antics at one point are hard to hear under surrounding din, and some of the dialogue at the daddy-daughter dance is practically unintelligible underneath the music and supportive ruckus.

Daddy's Home Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Daddy's Home contains a handful of featurettes and a collection of deleted and extended scenes. A DVD copy of the film and a voucher for a UV/iTunes digital copy code are included with purchase.

• The Making of Daddy's Home (1080p, 11:54): A look at the movie's origins, story details and themes, early production details, casting, characters, Sean Anders' work on the set, and more.
• Daddy-Off (1080p, 6:44): A closer look at how the main characters engage in conflict.
• Daddy Daughter Dance (1080p, 5:11): A quick run-through of making a key scene near movie's end and the themes that culminate in it.
• Halftime Stunt (1080p, 8:55): A look at the basketball sequence, both the behind-the-scenes making-of and its role in the larger story.
• Tony Hawk: Skater Double (1080p, 4:02): A couple of legendary skaters suit up to stand-in for the stars.
• Child's Play (1080p, 5:00): A closer look at the kids in the movie and what its like when they're on the set.
• Hannibal Buress: The Perfect Houseguest (1080p, 5:36): A fun few minutes with Hannibal Buress and a look at his work in the film.
• Blooper -- Jeet Kune Do (1080p, 2:05): The actors can't contain their laughter during the shoot.
• Deleted and Extended Scenes (1080p): Car Ride Q&A (2:38), Have Fun (1:15), Pre-Dance (1:26), Motorcycle Brad (1:39), and Special Ops (1:06).

Daddy's Home Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Daddy's Home doesn't reinvent the wheel, but it spins merrily and with a lot of confidence thanks to two great performances from its leads. It's more mayhem than it is heart, but the film wraps it all up nice and tidy-like by the end, which includes a fantastic epilogue that's the perfect exclamation point to a very enjoyable movie. Paramount's Blu-ray release of Daddy's Home features rock-solid video, enjoyable but occasionally troublesome DTS:X audio, and a handful of entertaining bonus features. Recommended.