Daddy Day Care
Two fathers get a crash course in caring for kids other than their own in this family-friendly comedy. Charlie Hinton (Eddie Murphy) is an advertising executive whose job monopolizes his time, making it difficult for him to stay in touch with his young son, Ben (Khamani Griffin). However, after Charlie and his partner, Phil (Jeff Garlin), are given their pink slips in the wake of a disastrous campaign for a new breakfast cereal, Charlie's wife, Kim (Regina King), goes back to work, and with the family budget tighter than before, Charlie becomes a stay-at-home dad. After pulling Ben out of an expensive and exclusive daycare center run by the humorless Gwyneth Harridan (Anjelica Huston), Charlie comes up with a brainstorm -- since he and Phil watch their own children every day, how much harder could it be to watch a few more kids and open their own day care center? Charlie and Phil discover there's much more to running a daycare center than they ever imagined, but after a very rough start, with the help of likable slacker Marvin (Steve Zahn) their new business becomes a success -- so much so that Harridan finds herself losing customers to the upstart fathers, and she starts searching for a way to shut them down. more..
Director: Steve Carr
Starring: Eddie Murphy,Jeff Garlin,Anjelica Huston, Steve Zahn, Regina King
A harmless and amusing summer comedy.
If you attend the movie with your expectations lowered by Murphy's recent films, you'll be reasonably amused.
An easy-on-the-sensibilities family film, Eddie Murphy practically assumes the easygoing manner of Mister Rogers, a character he used to wickedly lampoon on "Saturday Night Live."
His (Eddie Murphy's) performance in Daddy Day Care isn't bad. He's restrained, and even tender in some of the scenes he plays with the kids. But restraint is the last thing we want from a comic of his caliber. It's no fun at all.
Aggressively simple-minded, it's fueled by the delusion that it has a brilliant premise: Eddie Murphy plus cute kids equals success. But a premise should be the starting point for a screenplay, not its finish line.
David Newman
BMI Film & TV Awards (2004)
Best Comedy
Golden Trailer Awards (2003)
Favorite Movie
Kids' Choice Awards (2004)
Best Performance in a Feature Film - Young Actor Age Ten or Younger
Young Artist Awards (2004)
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