Review of Why Him? (2016) by Gerardistheway — 27 Jan 2017

Why do comedy movies these days have a tendency to assume that taking a no-holds-barred approach to profanity automatically equals laughs? James Franco has shown time and time again that he’s game for whatever weirdness he might have to portray on-screen, but my main thought towards the actions and dialogue of his Laird Mayhew character wasn’t “My God, this guy is really out there…”. It was in actuality more along the lines of “My God, does he kiss his mother with that mouth?”.

I am not opposed to profanity by any stretch, and when used correctly it can be an important element in film dialogue. It can be used to highlight the blue-collar roots of some characters, show the frustrations of others and allow them to vent when things don’t go their way (a scene that comes to mind where this happens in another movie is Clark’s freak-out in “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation”), and just create the idea that this is normal, everyday dialogue between average people. Let’s face it, we all probably swear more than we’d like to admit, and therefore it should be both unsurprising and even a little vindicating to see that reflected in cinema. As stated earlier, however, taboo words are in such abundance that it can make for quite an unpleasant viewing experience—an early instance is when Laird comes out to greet his girlfriend’s family, and drops the F-bomb about five times in a matter of twenty seconds. It just doesn’t fit with the presentation of Laird’s character: regardless of age or generation, I don’t know of any millionaire, much less billionaire, who has such a bad mouth on them that anyone they meet would be disgusted at some of the things coming out of it.

Anyways, moving on to the summary. Ned Fleming (Bryan Cranston, who is totally wasted in his role) is more or less a live-action Hank Hill: he carries a strong positive reputation among his friends, family, and co-workers, who collectively often refer to him as “the Big Cheese”. Yet his old-fashioned ways are hurting the printing business he owns and operates, and his refusal to go digital has caused many of his clients to either switch to online ads or have their printing done for a much lower cost in China. To further complicate matters, his daughter Stephanie (Zoey Deutch), a student at Stanford University in California, has found a boyfriend (Franco) that she hasn’t mentioned to her family whom they learn about abruptly when he interrupts a Facetime call for her dad’s birthday in a memorable way. In order to break the ice, Stephanie invites her mom (Megan Mullally), dad, and younger brother (Griffin Gluck) to California in order to meet Laird and get to know him. From there it’s your typical “dad vs. fiancé” story, with Laird quickly drawing Ned’s ire with his lack of a filter and intention to marry Stephanie (you know, to give the film something resembling a conflict). All sorts of weirdness abounds within Casa de Mayhew with many a celebrity cameo, a Siri-like artificial intelligence voiced by Kaley Cuoco that sounds far too human to be realistic, and a butler/assistant/trainer/estate manager of some sort of European descent played by Keegan-Michael Key.

I feel completely confident in stating that this is probably the most divisive comedy I’ve ever watched in my life. There were moments that almost had me out of my seat (One involves a lie from Laird about the true meaning of the word b*kk*k* that comes back to bite him, and in another Ned humorously quips “I’m going to hell for this” as he guesses passwords related to his daughter’s body while attempting to hack into Laird’s computer), but others felt so forced and unnatural in a desperate attempt to seem over-the-top that they had me cringing involuntarily (perhaps the best example is when a stuffed moose suspended in a tank full of urine explodes onto a fifteen-year-old boy). Tonal inconsistencies are all over the place as well: sappy sentimentality and typical gross-out humor swap places back and forth when, in all honesty, those two elements aren’t really capable of co-existing, as we’ve seen in many an Adam Sandler movie. Also, by the time the picture reaches its conclusion, nothing feels adequately summed up: while the “comedy where everything gets resolved happily at the end” is nothing new, it has no impact because we don’t really care about any of the conflicts. The characters are all cardboard cut-outs of common comedy personalities with no substance or depth to them, and thus nothing they do will make us like them any more or less. Stephanie especially suffers from this: Deutch keeps her likeable enough, but she is given the least development and screen time out of anyone and seems to only be around for Ned and Laird to both fawn and argue over.

Those who come to see this based on the ads will get exactly what they expect. Whether that’s good or bad is up to you.