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'Daddy Day Care'

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Starring: Eddie Murphy, Jeff Garlin, Steve Zahn, Anjelica Huston
Director: Steve Carr
MPAA rating: PG for language
Release date: May 9
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From out of the mouths of babes

Columbia Pictures

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By Philip Wuntch
The Dallas Morning News

Posted: May 9, 2003

"Daddy Day Care" makes a mess.

For starters, the film miscalculates Eddie Murphy's appeal. Regardless of how sly or even malicious his humor could be, his best roles always had an underdog appeal. But as Charlie Hinton, Eddie's made of sugar and spice and everything nice, and the once-naughty actor seems obsessed with his niceness. Upscale and self-satisfied, Charlie Hinton is the type of character that "Beverly Hills Cop" Axel Foley would have scorned.

Anyway, Charlie and sidekick Phil (Jeff Garlin of "Curb Your Enthusiasm") are laid off from their high-paying advertising jobs. With Charlie's wife Kim (Regina King) pursuing a successful law career, Charlie stays home with their 4-year-old son Ben (Khamani Griffin) and hatches a new plan. He and Phil, also a new stay-at-home father with serious issues about changing diapers, will start a day care center.

The idea almost seems DOA, but suddenly everything falls into place. The center's such a success that the daddy duo recruits single friend manchild Marvin (Steve Zahn) to join the staff. But the new center's popularity earns the ire of Miss Harridan (Anjelica Huston), stern and pompous headmistress of snobbish Chapman Academy. When parents start yanking their kids out of Chapman's and enrolling them with Daddy, Miss Harridan lives up to her none-too-subtle name and launches a vendetta.

Steve Carr, who directed Murphy's "Dr. Dolittle 2," does a workmanlike job here, never inspired but not totally useless. But "Daddy Day Care" will not supply the career rehab that Eddie needs at this point. He struck out three times last year with "The Adventures of Pluto Nash," "Showtime" and "I Spy." When "Pluto Nash" opened to empty theaters, the actor was quoted as saying, "I stopped worrying about stuff like that $18 million ago."

Eddie, it's time to start worrying. Big time.

It's saddening to watch the majestic Huston reduced to playing a robotic comedy target that exists just to be ridiculed. The movie almost completely wastes King and Garlin. Zahn, who showed unexpected range in "Riding in Cars With Boys" and "Joy Ride," also seems stifled. But young Griffin pushes all the adorable buttons as Eddie's sometimes neglected offspring.

In fact, the 4-year-old actor has the movie's most truthful line. During the obligatory outtakes scenes that close the film, Daddy Eddie is laughing up a storm, while his onscreen son looks bewildered. The young actor finally asks, "What's so funny?"

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