Three best friends become fathers later in life and find themselves battling preschool principals, millennial CEOs and anything created after 1987.
Chuck says:
Bill Burr has a successful stand-up routine. Casting himself as an aggrieved Baby Boomer, he carps about the various compromises he’s had to make in the face of the new social awareness that has swept the nation. He can no longer use the pejoratives he’s accustomed to or refer to women in derogatory terms. In his mind, he’s misunderstood and means no harm in the things he says. His heart is in the right place, and at times his common sense approach to today’s world rings true. Yet, casting himself as the victim in an age he no longer understands has proven to be a comic goldmine for him.
He further mines this schtick in his directorial debut “Old Dads,” a labored, obvious comedy that proves occasionally amusing, though in the end it’ll likely tax your patience. Much like Sebastian Maniscalo’s “About My Father” from earlier this year, this is a one-joke movie that wrings its premise dry long before the end credits roll.
Burr stars as Jack, a guy in his early 40’s who, like his friends and business partners Connor and Mike (Bobby Cannavale and Bokeem Woodbine), has come to fatherhood rather late in life. He wants what’s best for his young son but goes about things all wrong, consistently setting what is considered a bad example time and again. If he’s not calling the head of his boy’s pre-school a word no decent newspaper will print or dealing with self-centered Gen Xers, he’s all wrong.
Not only is Jack made to feel as if he doesn’t belong in society, but it spills over to the workplace as well when he and his friends unknowingly sell the retro sports jersey company they created, to an eco-friendly conglomerate that installs a 28-year-old as their boss. Of course, you can see how that’s going to turn out.
I have no doubt Burr feels anachronistic and I’d be lying if I didn’t say I agree with his point of view more times than not. I just wish he didn’t highlight all the worst aspects of those of us who don’t feel as though we were made for these times. That Jack, Connor and Mike all have wives much younger than them doesn’t help nor does the fact that they all come off as shrews throughout. Having the three female leads portrayed as “the old ball and chain” is not a good look and to make things worse, it’s just not funny.
In the end, Burr simply doesn’t have much new to say regarding feeling out of step with the times. What he has to say is better delivered in quick angry jabs on stage, the immediate audience reaction to his jokes fueling his ire. Here, his “woe-is-me” act loses steam quickly, as “Old Dads” wears out its welcome like the old man you pretend to listen to but couldn’t care less what he’s saying.
2 Stars
