Father of the Year

After seeing the words “Happy Madison” and “starring David Spade”, my expectations weren’t very high. Somehow, this did exceed them. It still isn’t a great movie, and it’s barely even a good one, largely for one reason. The script is a mess. It’s less of a plot and more a grouping of scenes. Characters come and go, plot lines are brought up and set aside at will, and the jokes are obvious and lazy. I don’t know that I laughed once. Maybe chuckled? Maybe chortled? But the aimlessness of the “story” and some of the standard issue Happy Madison humor is … it is what it is, okay? But what saves this movie is a cast that is giving it their all. Joey Bragg and Bridget Mendler are cute together. Bragg and his buddy Matt Shivley are equally a good pair. Nat Faxon throws himself into the nebbish square role that he has, and is oddly charming. Everybody shows up for it, and that elevates it to watchable. Not great, but watchable.