Jami Bernard
Gary Dretzka
Leonard Klady
David Poland
Doug Pratt
Ray Pride
Stu VanAirsdale

..Gary Dretzka
..Leonard Klady
..David Poland
..Ray Pride

Daddy Day Care
Directed by: Steve Carr

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As with most films of recent vintage, Daddy Day Care has a reasonable enough premise. And hat in glove with that, the filmmakers either squander a possibility or lack any one of a number of attributes to realize its potential.

In the case of this Eddie Murphy comedy, his character, Charlie Hinton, is an almost soulless ad executive. He escapes total damnation because he heads up the organic division of a company representing food products. However, when his Veggi-Os breakfast cereal fails to connect with kids, he and his entire division are shown the door.

While neither the victim of downsizing nor redundancy, he's nonetheless without a job at a time when employment opportunities have never been worse. The good news is his wife - who's been out of the job marketing raising their now three-year-old son - has just been hired by a law firm.

Still, as the weeks and months elapse, economy becomes critical and the Hinton's decide to withdraw their son from a posh pre-school. However, when they discover the frightening alternatives, Charlie latches onto the idea of opening his own venue with Phil (Jeff Garlin), a former co-worker, and hence the name of the movie.

The script by Geoff Rodkey hints at a couple of intriguing notions. The most obvious is what transpires when two untrained men (a third equally unqualified male will be brought into the fold later) venture into child care. Aside from some perforce-comic missteps, the film lacks any substantive perspective on what the characters learn about their limitations or what they must do (excluding city codes) to be better care givers and people. A film such as Mr. Mom towers in nuanced achievement beside this effort.

The other botched element is the debate over the sort of highfalutin early education doled out by the rival Chapman School and Daddy Day Care's efforts to allow kids to be kids, even soliciting their input to determine its curriculum. Chapman, as exemplified by the aptly named Miss Harridan, is a grotesque version of one end of the spectrum and therefore easy to dismiss.

What's chiefly on the filmmaker's minds is broad and easy antics. The children are barbarians to be tamed and the villains have less subtlety than even a Disney cartoon. It's a cheap amalgam of potty jokes and hiss-able dirty tricks with Murphy mugging mercilessly and Anjelica Huston (as Harridan) doing a touring company version of Cruella DeVille.

Directed and filmed in pedestrian fashion, Daddy Day Care goes for the laugh and generally fires wide of the target. It's a lackluster movie and an institution one should be forewarned not to enter.

A Sony Pictures Entertainment release of a Davis Entertainment production. Produced by John Davis, Matt Berenson, Wyck Godfrey. Director, Steve Carr. Screenplay, Geoff Rodkey. Camera, Steven Poster. Editor, Christopher Greenbury. Music, David Newman. Production design, Garreth Stover. Costumes, Ruth Carter.

Eddie Murphy (Charlie Hinton), Jeff Garlin (Phil), Steve Zahn (Marvin), Anjelica Huston (Gwyneth Harridan), Regina King (Kim Hinton), Jonathan Katz (Dan Kubitz), Khamani Griffin (Ben Hinton)

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Release Date: May 9, 2003
Rated: PG

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Starring: Eddie Murphy,
Steve Zahn, Anjelica Huston,
Lacey Chabert, Jeff Garlin

Produced by: Matt Berenson, John Davis, Wyck Godfrey

Written by: Geoff Rodkey

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Distributor: Columbia Pictures

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Review Date: May 9, 2003