Movie Review: Delivery Man (2013)
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| Delivery Man starts with
an interesting premise: what would you do if you found out
that you were the biological parent of 533 children, and 142
of them are taking you to court to force you to reveal who
you are? This is the dilemma that faces David Wozniak (Vince
Vaughn). His solution, at least initially: “Yo no soy David
Wozniak.” (For those of you who don’t understand Spanish: “I
am not David Wozniak.”) Once the initial shock wears off, David confronts the problem head-on in an occasionally-touching, often-hilarious journey on the bumpy road of parenthood. David decides to get to know his young-adult children anonymously, in effect, spying on them. He ends up entering their lives at remarkably convenient moments where he can truly make a difference. Vaughn is as charismatic as always and feels equally at home in both his dramatic and comedic scenes. David’s friend, Brett (Chris Pratt), is likeable as a man who feels the pains of fatherhood and that deep down desire to please ones parents that persists even into adulthood. As David’s girlfriend, Emma, Cobie Smulders is whinny, a disappointing departure from her role as sassy, smart Robin Scherbatsky on television's How I Met Your Mother. The movie has a few frustratingly unrealistic aspects, for example, David’s daughter/drug addict is freed from addiction by a brief chat with a pizza delivery man in a hospital hallway. I don’t have any experience with drug addiction, but this feels dangerously false; even for a comedy, I expect better. In one failed attempt at humor, an attorney, admittedly one who has never won a case, doesn’t seem to know how to use a courtroom podium microphone. The majority of the movie is peppered with such amusing comedy that, in the end, all is forgiven. And there’s a jawdroppingly fun twist toward the end. Although it offers a good time at the movie theater, Delivery Man is a film that doesn’t require a big screen to fully enjoy its fun. It will surely be a hit on Netflix queues and in Redbox boxes. |
| Jen's grade: B Better than most. Worth a watch! |
Delivery Man opens in theaters November 22, 2013. Delivery Man is rated PG-13. |
Jen (California, USA)* |
* Jen won two complimentary tickets to the premiere of Delivery Man. |
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