Of all the guys his daughter could have chosen...
A farcical generation-gap comedy in the vein of Meet the Parents, Why Him? pits another socially awkward young man against his girlfriend’s zealously over-protective dad.
Here, however, it’s James Franco’s uninhibited Silicon Valley billionaire Laird who has the upper hand when Bryan Cranston’s crusty Midwestern patriarch Ned and his wife Barb (Will & Grace’s Megan Mullally) pay a Christmas holiday visit to his lavish California mansion.
Indeed, it’s Ned, horrified at the prospect of Laird marrying his daughter Stephanie (Zoey Deutch), who lands in one embarrassing situation after another as he strives to thwart the match. Confronted with the uncurbed Laird’s foul tongue, brazen tattoos and hi-tech modernist house, fuddy-duddy Ned is hopelessly at a loss.
Unfortunately, director John Hamburg (co-writer of Meet the Parents and its sequels) is similarly ineffectual in his efforts to milk the situation for laughs. The more Franco swears or flashes his tats, the less funny things become, although Keegan-Michael Key as Laird’s wacky assistant does raise the odd chuckle with his Pink-Panther-style, martial-arts ambushes of his boss.
Certificate 15. Runtime 111 mins. Director John Hamburg
Why Him? is available on Blu-ray, DVD & Digital Download from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.
