Vince Vaughn, he talks fast, almost to the point of his words becoming gibberish, and he does this in every movie. Each of his characters differs very little from the last and yet I, for some reason, still find him whimsical and talented. Having said this, a little variation from time to time couldn’t hurt. Now, just because I enjoy him as an actor doesn’t mean I like the movies he’s in. Specifically as of late… The Internship, The Watch, and The Dilemma, just to name a few that were lackluster at best. With Delivery Man, it’s more of the same. However with this film, it was elevated slightly by having heart to it. It cared about the subject matter and I think Vaughn conveyed this decently and made an overall entertaining enough film. The ultimate conclusion for Delivery Man is this; was it terrible? No. Is it worth buying on Blu-Ray? No. All in all it worked well considering the high probability of failure it was facing. I mean, let’s be honest, it didn’t look that great in the first place so anything but complete catastrophe is a win in my opinion.
Delivery Man tells the story of a man, David Wozniak (Vince Vaughn), who is a failure in nearly every aspect of his life. He is a constant disappointment to his family, friends, and girlfriend. He is essentially a man-child, a very tall man-child. His only entrepreneurial efforts are a bunch of dying pot plants that he intends to sell. The man with zero desire for responsibility suddenly gets his entire world turned upside down when he is told that, through a mix up with the fertility clinic he donated to back in the 90’s, his donations were given to hundreds of women. He is the biological father of 533 children; 142 of which are filing suit to discover his identity. The clinic is legally obligated to conceal his identity and to defend it in court should the situation ever arise. Well it has arrived tenfold. The story takes off when David is given the profiles of all the children searching for his identity. Unable to ignore the heart he reluctantly discovers, he begins to anonymously help his unaware children with whatever burdens they happen to be dealing with. Through his assistance to these people he previously never knew existed, he finds that although this situation he has found himself in is beyond bizarre, it just may in fact be the very thing he needed in his life.
The director, Ken Scott, previously directed a film called Starbuck. Starbuck is about a man that discovers he is the biological father of 533 children caused by a horrifying mix up at the donation clinic. Sound familiar? He remade his own film! Which would be amazing had this 2013 remake been terrible. Two tries at a movie, you have to get at least one of them right. With the remake he did an adequate job but not much better. Maybe with his third attempt it will be great! (I’m kidding of course). He said his motivation for creating this story was to show how important the relationships of a family are and, in a very grand way, just how complicated these relationships can be. Of course, no one fathers 533 children, but you get the point. This is where the heart of the film comes into play; this character that previously had no direction suddenly is faced with a monumental hurdle that will change everything about who he is. It is not only his eventual acceptance of his new circumstances that makes this remotely worthwhile, it is his progression as a human being that makes the audience feel something.
This holiday season, I would suggest looking elsewhere for a film to see, but if nothing catches your fancy this is an okay option to choose from. It’s decent but very forgettable and nothing particularly funny comes to mind. It’s a quirky comedy about a slacker who is given a new opportunity to impress people and does so in a quirky manner. It’s been done in many ways, many times before so this is nothing new. If that’s okay with you and you are a fan of Vaughn, Chris Pratt (the funniest aspect of this film, IMO), and the very lovely Cobie Smulders then I would suggest checking this out. You know what to expect from these people and they turn in the same performances as always. Mediocre is the definition of Delivery Man.
Rated PG-13 for: thematic elements, sexual content, some drug material, brief violence and language
Run Time: 103 minutes
After Credits Scene: None
Starring: Vince Vaughn, Chris Pratt, Cobie Smulders, Bobby Moynihan
Directed By: Ken Scott
Out of 5 Nerdskulls
Story: 3/ Acting: 3/ Directing: 3/ Visuals: 2
OVERALL: 3 Nerdskulls
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