FERRELL & WAHLBERG IN DADDY'S HOME

year: 2015 cast: Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg, Linda Cardellini, Thomas Haden Church, Scarlett Estevez

In the underrated cop comedy THE OTHER GUYS from 2010, Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg had pretty good chemistry as polar opposites stuck together and not getting along. Now with the family-oriented DADDY'S HOME, the entire concept relies on how perfect-looking Wahlberg is compared to the obliviously-naïve, everyman Ferrell. In a nutshell, the boys are playing (i.e. doing an imitation of) themselves, or at least how they're perceived by audiences. The flawless stud verses the funny dud.

While low on outright, gut-wrenching hilarity, the plot is breezy enough: Ferrell's put-upon yet extremely patient step-father competes with muscular Wahlberg's returning real dad for the love (and respect) of the kids while mom Linda Cardellini is caught in-between. And right when the realistic premise gets underway... an exaggerated version of what a lot of men actually suffer through... Ferrell's Brad becomes a death-proof Wile E. Coyote as Wahlberg's Dusty kind of just sits around, watching the poor guy fail at everything until, at one point, the tables turn... but not for too long: Within the sparse 96-minutes, very little actually occurs outside the box until an 11th hour situation that not only creatively ties loose ends together, but you'll forgive and forget being somewhat let-down since the overall theme-oriented experience, mostly spoiled in the trailers, isn't altogether terrible.

RATING: ***