2.5 stars. Rated R, for sexual candor, vulgarity and relentless profanity
By Derrick Bang
A modest holiday-themed comedy
lurks in the bowels of this wildly uneven movie, but it doesn’t escape very
often.
 |
| Stephanie (Zoey Deutch, left) is more than a little nervous while introducing boyfriend Laird (James Franco) to her family: from left, parents Ned (Bryan Cranston) and Barb (Megan Mullally), and younger brother Scotty (Griffin Gluck). |
As has become typical of far too
much of today’s “lighter” fare, this flick’s infrequent delights — the story
credited to Jonah Hill, John Hamburg and Ian Helfer — are buried beneath an avalanche
of profanity and vulgarity.
But that’s clearly a generation
gap in the classic sense, very much like the behavioral impasse that separates
the characters played here by Bryan Cranston and James Franco. The juvenile, foul-mouthed
conduct that prompts long-suffering sighs from many (likely older) viewers, is
embraced gleefully by the intended target audience (likely millennials).
And so it goes.
In fairness, director John
Hamburg draws quite a few genuine laughs throughout his film, thanks mostly to
Cranston’s masterful comic timing. He handles long-suffering and put-upon with
hilarious panache, as he demonstrated during his numerous seasons on
television’s Malcolm in the Middle
(before becoming a “serious actor” in big-screen projects).
Why Him? is a comic homecoming for Cranston, and he
maximizes the project’s potential. Not since Father of the Bride’s Steve Martin — or Spencer Tracy, depending on
one’s preference — has a Dad become so flummoxed over his daughter’s transition
to full independence.
Granted, poor Ned Fleming
(Cranston) has a lot more to process.
A web-cam 55th birthday greeting
from daughter Stephanie (Zoey Deutch) — completing college courses in
California, far from her Michigan home town — is marred by the revelation that
she has a guy in her life: the hitherto undisclosed Laird Mayhew (Franco), who
bursts into Stephanie’s apartment and proceeds to strip.
Laird’s spontaneous disrobing
notwithstanding, the presence of a boyfriend isn’t a shock per se; after all, Stephanie is a responsible, self-sufficient 22
years old. But the fact that Ned and wife Barb (Megan Mullally) haven’t heard about this fellow is a bit distressing,
particularly since Ned has long enjoyed a mutually close relationship with his
only daughter.
Wanting to make up for this
gaffe, Stephanie invites her family to Palo Alto for the impending Christmas
weekend, so that everybody — which includes her 15-year-old brother Scotty
(Griffin Gluck) — can “get acquainted.” This seems a reasonable olive branch,
until Ned, Barb and Scotty actually meet
Laird.
