Why Him?

Starring: James Franco, Bryan Cranston, Zoey Deutch, Megan Mullally, Keegan-Michael Key, Cedric the Entertainer, Kaley Cuoco (voice), Adam Devine
Directed by: John Hamburg
Rating: R
Genre: Comedy
2016

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A man (Bryan Cranston) struggles when he discovers his daughter (Zoey Deutch) is engaged to a tech millionaire (James Franco).

Review:

Tim: Why Him? takes a pretty straightforward concept- a man is unhappy with his daughter's choice in a mate- and updates it for 2016. It's actually a solid idea and the execution was fairly decent. In the end, this movie doesn't quite do enough for me to consider it a good movie, but it gets awfully close.

The film works best when it leverages the strength of its cast. Bryan Cranston was perfectly cast as the father- he is able to project this everyman quality that helps the audience to identify with him. He's just like countless dads out there around the country. Zoey Deutch was well cast, too- she has just enough innocence to her that you can see how her dad would dote on her and be protective. James Franco was well cast, too- it's kind of the perfect role for him when he can just let loose with his weirdness. Nothing his character does felt like a major stretch for Franco. Casting him in this role was brilliant. The dynamics between Cranston and Franco are especially strong, but adding Deutch into the mix makes something special. I loved the interactions between these three. Unfortunately, that means Megan Mullally is relegated to the sidelines. She has a few nice moments, but is underutilized. Keegan-Michael Key emerged as a scene-stealer and one of the funnier moments of the film. Cedric the Entertainer felt misused in his incredibly small role. I liked seeing Adam Devine, as he always makes film funnier. It was a nice touch using Kaley Cuoco's voice, too. As a whole, this is one of the more inspired casts I've seen in a comedy. That really helps the film immensely.

The movie works hard to build on the simple premise- this occasionally works, occasionally doesn't. I actually think the movie would have been better had it been a bit more focused. There's the main disagreement about Franco's character between father and daughter. There's a whole subplot about the father's business being in financial trouble, a question about the philanthropic endeavors of the tech millionaire, the brother and his discovery of who he is and what he wants to be, the whole thing about KISS, etc. It felt like there was a bit too much crammed into this film. The movie was a bit too long at 1 hour 51 minutes, so it might have been better to cut one of the subplots.

Why Him? was a bit uneven in the laughs department. There's certainly funny sequences throughout the film, but there's too many outlandish, extreme gags that don't connect. This is obviously the hardest part of a comedy. I appreciate the film for landing the jokes it did, but truly, this movie needed to be funnier to be considered a solid comedy. This was an easy opportunity for improvement. For every joke that hit the mark, there were 2-3 that didn't. That's always going to hold a comedy back. I do believe the longer run time hurt this film- the lack of true laughs was even more exposed as the movie crept towards two hours in length. The movie would have been better had 10-15 minutes of weaker material cut.

Why Him? felt like a movie where everyone involved wanted it to succeed. I don't think any of the cast or the production crew showed up just for a paycheck- I genuinely believe everyone wanted to make a really good comedy. They got awfully close, so I have to give them credit for that. This movie has nice stretches where it's enjoyable and entertaining. Unfortunately, there were a bit too many flaws that ultimately sunk the movie below where it was aiming for. I don't have any hard feelings about this film- it was decently funny and entertaining. I appreciate the effort involved, even if it just missed the mark.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6.5



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