Director: Ken Scott
Cast: Vince Vaughn, Cobie Smulders, Chris Pratt
Running Time: 105 minutes
Certificate: 12A
Synopsis: David is the black sheep of the family, and works as the delivery man at his family business. He’s dating a woman way out of his league and is chased by men due to an unpaid debt As these problems don’t seem enough his girlfriend falls pregnant at the same time as he’s being sued by children spring from a sperm donation he made 20 years ago.
It’s a strange sight to see Vince Vaughn without a comic lead by his side that he can serve as a side kick for. He’s always needed Jon Favreau, Jennifer Aniston or Owen Wilson before. In this film Cobie Smoulders who plays his girlfriend is too smoldering to serve as a part of a comedy duo, and Chris Pratt outshines Vaughn instead of complimenting his performance.
DELIVERY MAN is a re-make of the French version STARBUCK also written and directed by Ken Scott. The new version is almost identical to the French one, with the exception of having slightly more attractive cast and of course being subtitle-less for those who don’t want to read and be disappointed by a joke, but would rather hear it and then realise it’s not funny. The story featured in the film is unheard of and is enough to mess with your head without the unnecessary mob chasing him and the pregnant girlfriend adding turning his family into a 534 children large one instead of 533.
David realises that he’s too incapable to take care of 142 children, and he has no money to support them with. However, he’s still curious and decides to serve as a guardian angel for each of the children he can find. There are some interesting warming moments when David starts caring for his children from a distance; helping them without presenting himself as a father. It also raises some questions about privacy, what it means to be a parent, and- yes – sperm donation.
Vaughn is great in his performance as the worthless loser in his 30s, mainly because he’s played this part so many times before but it was cute 10 years ago and now it’s becoming redundant and even a little annoying.
The interesting and heavy topics are reduced in the comedy, which aims to be heartfelt but remains ridiculous, and quite offensive. The film is hardly funny, and when it is it’s only thanks to Chris Pratt who plays the friend and lawyer of David. The latter saves some scenes, but nothing can save DELIVERY MAN.
[usr=2] DELIVERY MAN is out in UK cinemas on the 10th of January.
