From IMDB:
Over the holidays, Ned (Bryan Cranston), an overprotective but loving dad and his family visit his daughter at Stanford, where he meets his biggest nightmare: her well-meaning but socially awkward Silicon Valley billionaire boyfriend, Laird (James Franco). The rivalry develops, and Ned's panic level goes through the roof when he finds himself lost in this glamorous high-tech world and learns that Laird is about to pop the question.Written by 20th Century Fox
From Rotten Tomatoes:
Over the holidays, Ned (Bryan Cranston), an overprotective but loving dad and his family visit his daughter at Stanford, where he meets his biggest nightmare: her well-meaning but socially awkward Silicon Valley billionaire boyfriend, Laird (James Franco). The straight-laced Ned thinks Laird, who has absolutely no filter, is a wildly inappropriate match for his daughter. The one-sided rivalry-and Ned's panic level-escalate when he finds himself increasingly out of step in the glamorous high-tech hub, and learns that Laird is about to pop the question.
Rating: R (for strong language and sexual material throughout)
Genre: Comedy
Directed By: John Hamburg
Written By: John Hamburg, Ian Helfer
In Theaters: Dec 23, 2016 Wide
Box Office: $11,002,986.00
Runtime: 111 minutes
Studio: 20th Century Fox
TOMATOMETER 40%
Average Rating: 4.9/10
Reviews Counted: 102
Fresh: 41
Rotten: 61
Critics Consensus: Solidly cast but overall misconceived, Why Him? offers the odd chuckle, but ultimately adds disappointingly little to its tired father-vs.-fiancé formula.
Average Rating: 3.6/5
User Ratings: 9,962
If the first time you meet someone and he doesn't have a shirt and has a foul mouth what goes through your mind? ©20th Century Fox
Directed by the man who also wrote for all the Meet the Fockers franchise and the Zoolander franchise...
Why Him? was actually released in the US on December 23rd but is only coming to Malaysia on the 29th. I saw it yesterday, the 27th. Why is it taking this comedy so long? Who knows? Anyway, Why Him? was written in part by the director John Hamburg along with Jonah Hill and Ian Helfer. John Hamburg also wrote for Meet the Parents (2000), Zoolander (2001), Along Came Polly (2004), Meet the Fockers (2004), I Love You, Man (2009), Little Fockers (2010) and Zoolander 2 (2016). Now with the exception of maybe Little Fockers and Zoolander 2 pretty much all the rest were pretty good and funny and a little better than average. By the time of Little Fockers and Zoolander 2 you've basically seen and heard everything and it's just not as fresh, right?
So let's get on to Why Him?, which stars Bryan Cranston as Ned Fleming the man who's asking the question, "Why him?". He has a daughter named Stephanie (Zoey Deutch) who is currently in college and to his surprise is dating a man whom he finds out about quite accidentally and hilariously on his birthday while on a video call with his daughter. After this accidental introduction Stephanie decides it would be good for the family to get to know the "new" boyfriend and tells her dad to bring down the family to California over the Christmas holidays. So off Ned goes to California with his lovely wife Barb (Megan Mullally) and son Scotty (Griffin Gluck).
Pinkie swears are very important to Silicon Valley millionaires. That's how they finalize all their contracts. ©20th Century Fox
On arriving in California Steph tries to tell Ned a little about her boyfriend but can't quite figure out how and things get a little harder to explain when they arrive at his home and enter through a hidden entrance. Things get weirder still as they see chickens and llamas on the estate and meet with Gustav (Keegan-Michael Key) the estate manager who previously managed a chain of famous 5-star hotels because he was tired of all the trappings associated with that career and lifestyle.
Anyway, the story pretty much unravels the same way that Meet the Parents does albeit this time it's the father in law to be who is the focus of things and have funny things happen around him and occasionally to him. That's one difference, the other difference is is the future son in law is one of those silicon valley millionaire guys with an unusual personality. So that's the thing that's been updated. And oh yeah, the cussing, lots of cussing. What did you expect from a movie that's also written by Jonah Hill who also helped write for Sausage Party (2016) and stars James Franco? We're just short of Seth Rogen and it would've been complete. If you know what I mean.
So here's a few things I enjoyed.
- Like Ned and the Flemings. Fun to watch Bryan Cranston in a comedic role again. Megan Mullally was adorable. Scotty was ok. Steph was ok too.
- The story was average. Not bad. Not super good or super funny either. It has its moments.
- Like Gustav.
A few things that didn't impress.
- Not impressed with James Franco's character. That whole Silicon Valley millionaire start-up weirdo just isn't all that interesting. Doesn't really bring anything new to the story. Well not much anyway. And the cussing. Really? It stopped being funny after the first f*$k.
So Ned goes to Laird's office to talk about hacking into his network. I guess he forgot about the fact that someone is always listening. ©20th Century Fox
Why Him? is, to be honest nothing special. It has its moments for sure and you'll laugh but you won't remember it a half hour after you've walked out the cinema. If people ask you about it, you might say it's funny and you might recommend it but you probably won't go into much detail. Unless you're a fan of the comedy that James Franco and friends are known for. You'll enjoy Bryan Cranston if you're a fan of his and it's a nice throwback to the days when he did comedy. But nothing in this movie will make you rant and rave about it to your friends and family. Also, this may not be suitable for the whole family.
What this movie is is a quick laugh after a long day or a long week. A movie to watch when you just don't want to think about anything. Sort of like every comedy that James Franco has been in or Seth Rogen or Jonah Hill. It's very little substance but lots of juvenile type humour to appeal to the frat boy or sorority girl in you. If you consider yourself an adult then maybe don't watch this movie. And since I sort of guessed that this was going to be the case I set my expectations pretty low. So that's why I'm giving this movie a 3 out of 5.
Check out the red band trailer below.
A GREAT BIG THANKS TO KLIPS.MY AND 20th CENTURY FOX MALAYSIA FOR THE PREMIERE PASSES TO WHY HIM?
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