It’s not impossible for a comedian to straddle rowdy raunchiness and family-friendly sweetness over the course of a career: the best of Will Ferrell‘s R-rated comedies are in no way diminished by his adorably naรฏve turn in “Elf.”
For a single movie to appeal to a kid audience with wacky antics and sentimental moralizing while at the same time trafficking in jokes about artificial insemination is another matter entirely, and it’s that level of tonal dissonance that keeps “Daddy’s Home” from living up to its potential.
Ferrell stars as another of his normcore dorks — lite-jazz radio exec Brad would love to be a dad but can’t after a mishap with a dental X-ray machine.