★★☆☆☆The best that can be said for Daddy’s Home 2 is that it’s slightly less awful than its recent female-led counterpart, A Bad Moms Christmas. Why do all this year’s seasonal comedies have to be split down gender lines? It’s so insulting and reductive, like the cinematic equivalent of stag and hen parties, but without the fun. In the sequel to the £180 million-grossing Daddy’s Home, directed again by Sean Anders, Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg reprise their roles as “co-dads” Brad and Dusty, the husband and ex-husband respectively of Linda Cardellini’s Sara, with whom they both have children. Sick of being shuttled between houses over Christmas, the kids rebel, prompting their parents to have, you guessed it, a communal, blended-family Christmas.

Source: The Times November 23, 2017 23:59 UTC