Director: Ken Scott
Starring: Vince Vaughn, Chris Pratt, Cobie Smulders
Running Time: 102 minutes
Certificate: 12
Extras: Bloopers, Deleted Scene: You’re Under Arrest
I can usually give or take Vince Vaughn, he has the ability to be a fantastic actor, see SWINGERS, then again he can be really disappointing. Unfortunately he is the latter in this new comedy from Ken Scott.
DELIVERY MAN is based on a French-Canadian comedy from 2011 named STARBUCK and Vaughn plays meat delivery driver David Wozniak. He is forever down on his luck and up to his eyeballs in debt when he finds out that he is the father of 533 children through a series of sperm donations he had made twenty years prior. When he finds out that 142 of them want to meet him, he brings in his rubbish laywer friend, played by Chris Pratt, to help keep his anonymity. Of course curiosity gets the better of him as he begins to track down his children.
I struggled with this film, my main issue was that it wasn’t sure what it wanted to be. At times it tried to be really funny and sarcastic but then it hit us with all the sentimental stuff. It all just felt very long and drawn out.
The plot itself is good and there are some genuingly lovely moments particularly Vaughn visiting his severely handicapped son. But apart from that, it all felt a bit forced. There was no chemistry between Vaughn and his estranged girlfriend Cobie Smulders and although Pratt was very funny, his scenes were too spaced out to keep the laughs flowing. Vaughn just didn’t seem interested and his “every day man” characters are getting a bit tiresome now. I think Vaughn really shines when he has good sidekicks to bounce off and unfortunately it didn’t happen in this film.
The film does raise certain questions on privacy and parenthood but it all just seemed to be left to the side so we could see Vaughn’s character get more grief. Of course the sickly sweet ending made the entire film seem a bit pointless and massively cliched.
It wasn’t terrible and okay to watch if there is nothing else, and I really mean nothing else. If you are a fan of Vaughn I think you will be sorely dissappointed, if you are a fan of touching comedies, you too will be disappointed.
[usr=2] DELIVERY MAN is relseased on DVD and Blu-ray from 9th June
