Daddy Day Camp

Cuba Gooding Jr used to be good. As Good as it Gets, What Dreams May Come, he even won the Oscar for Jerry McGuire. What happened to him? Snow Dogs, Norbit, Boat Trip, and Daddy Day Camp are what happened to him. This poor man needs to fire his agent, or whoever convinced him to take a role in this sequel that even Eddie Murphey passed on.

This is Fred Savage's feature directorial debut. This comes after spending his whole life on TV, and nearly a decade directing for the small screen. He should have stayed there. After the success of his "Daddy Day Care" business, Charlie Hinton (Gooding), and Phil Ryerson, (Paul Rae) buy an ailing camp ground and try to revitalize it. In an entirely unoriginal plot, the camp filled with misfits is pitted against the rich "Camp Cannola." Lance Warner (Lochlyn Monroe), who runs Camp Cannola makes Biff Tannen look like a Rhoads Scholar. Or how about Charlie's wife (Tamala Jones), who's willing to risk bankruptcy to support her husband's pipe dream? Do these sound like realistic characters, even for a children's movie?

It seems that there are two variations on comedy in this movie. Toilet humor, and people screaming very loudly. Within two minutes of each other, there is a skunk spraying gag, a vomiting gag, and an exploding toilet gag. It's filled with scene after scene of balloons filled with liquids of varying colors and consistencies exploding on people. Funny, huh? As the movie progresses, the characters just get louder, whether it's Hinton on the archery range, or during a raid by the other camp. These comedies need to learn that loud does not equal funny.

The acting on all fronts is terrible. It sounded like they were reading the script for the first time. I feel bad about saying this, but the kids were awful as well. It seemed as if they were asking every single line, completely unsure of themselves. They didn't sound like kids, they sounded like poor actors trying to act like kids. It's a shame.

I know this is a children's movie, and I shouldn't judge it on the same level as other movies. I did in fact hear scattered laughter from the young-uns, and of course it preaches the idea of tolerance and being yourself, but honestly- it's just a rancid piece of cinema. There are many movies that promote the same ideas to the same demographic, that are so much more enjoyable. With this role Cuba Gooding may have complete descended from the Oscars to the Razzies.

Watch the Trailer

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