Why Him?

**1/2

Reviewed by: Angus Wolfe Murray

Why Him?
"Embarrassment and vulgarity are sisters under the duvet"

Why indeed? You never get to understand.

On the one hand you have peaches and cream Stephanie (Zoey Deutch) and on the other skid marked Laird (James Franco). She's the daughter of a mid-Western printer and he's noone's son since his parents took the high road to heaven.

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The co-producer of this pants full comic fart is Ben Stiller and the co-writer/director, John Hamburg, penned the screenplay for Meet The Parents, while Jonah Hill helped out with the story. He is a paid up member of Seth Rogen's anarchic piss takers club and Stiller was the lead in Meet The Ps. Mix them together and you find yourself asking, "Why them?"

This is Meet The Blah-Blahs backwards. Ned Fleming (Cranston) comes to California from the outer reaches of The Trumpsphere, with the lady wife (Megan Mullally), to touch basics with his possible son-in-law who turns out to be a seriously screwed up millionaire video games producer.

The joke is as simple as Laird's tattoos. Ned is a square peg in a square hole. Laird is post punk, with "almost no filter," which means he does and says what the hell he likes, in this case attempting to impress the Flemings and having 24/7 sex with Steph.

Franco is flying free. He loves this kind of stuff. Cranston, better known as Walt from Breaking Bad, looks uncomfortable as the butt of Laird's butt.

True to the spirit of Hollywood's nut crunched anti establishment innovators the barriers are down and the testicles out.

From the position of the naughty step humour is sexually inappropriate which is where it should be according to Hill's crowd. Embarrassment and vulgarity are sisters under the duvet. If you can take it, make it. And that's what they've done.

Surprisingly, and certainly not to their credit, sentimentality slackens the storyline by the end, turning disgust into gush.

Once upon a time Adam Sandler would have been here, but not now. He's older. And wiser?

One question remains. How did Steph meet Laird? He loves her for who she is and what she has, a family. Can this be what it's all about?

Sooo conventional.

Reviewed on: 24 Dec 2016
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Why Him? packshot
A dad forms a rivalry with his daughter's boyfriend.
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Director: John Hamburg

Writer: John Hamburg, Ian Helfer

Starring: James Franco, Bryan Cranston, Zoey Deutch, Megan Mullally, Keegan-Michael Key, Adam Devine, Zack Pearlman, Casey Wilson, Griffin Gluck, Elon Musk, Andrew Rannells, Gene Simmons, Cedric the Entertainer, Katelyn Brooke, Bob Stephenson

Year: 2016

Runtime: 111 minutes

BBFC: 15 - Age Restricted

Country: US

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