Image Courtesy of Amazon.com
Director
Fred Savage
Cast
Cuba Gooding Jr. ………. Charlie Hinton
Lochlyn Munro ………. Lance Warner
Richard Gant ………. Col. Buck Hinton
Tamala Jones ………. Kim Hinton
Paul Rae ………. Phil Ryerson
Josh McLerran ………. Dale
Spencir Bridges ………. Ben Hinton
Brian Doyle-Murray ………. Uncle Morty
Dallin Boyce ………. Max Ryerson
Telise Galanis ………. Juliette
Taggart Hurtubise ………. Carl
Molly Jepson ………. Becca
Tad D’Agostino ………. Robert
Tyger Rawlings ………. Billy West
Talon G. Ackerman ………. Jack
The Movie
When Cuba Gooding Jr. won an Oscar for Jerry Maguire, it would prove perhaps to be the death knell of his career. Since then his career has not followed the sort of trajectory one would project it to, but then again his talents as a leading man may have been overestimated at the time. His performance in Maguire was the sort of brilliance rarely seen on the big screen, so expecting him to repeat it in quality projects again may have been an overestimation of his talents or his ability to pick a script. One could point to any number of films he’s done since then. Despite a limited performance in the smash hit American Gangster and several other smaller roles in good movies, his starring performances have little if any substance to them. The latest is last year’s flop Daddy Day Camp, a sequel to the Eddie Murphy hit Daddy Day Care.
Originally intended to be a Direct to DVD release, it was given a theatrical release in order to boost up its DVD sales. It has all the hallmarks of a direct to video release, including a star whose best days never really were. Gooding steps into the role of Charlie Hinton, a day care provider who’s successful enough that he attempts something even bolder: summer camp.
Seeing it as a way to continue to bond with his son, Charlie tries to resurrect the summer camp of his youth and turn it into the place he remembers. Camp Driftwood has gone in disarray since and it’s up to Charlie to make it good once again, all the while settling an old score from his summer camp days.
And going any further would be an exercise in futility. It’s more of an exercise in pain and suffering, as the film manages to take a clichéd script filled with gags Nickelodeon would reject with a fourth rate cast willing to take on second tier roles because the originals refused to return and mesh them into perhaps one of the worst films ever made. There are no redeeming factors to this film.
A/V QUALITY CONTROL
Presented in a Dolby Digital format with a widescreen presentation, the film may suck but the audio/visual presentation is pretty good. The colors come through wonderfully and the sound uses the Dolby format sufficiently well.
The Extras
How I spent my summer: Making Daddy Day Camp is a retrospective on the making of the film. Focusing mainly on the children, who tell the story, there are some comments from the adults of the film. There’s nothing of any note shared, outside of how much it was to work with the children.
What I Learned at Camp: Interactive Quiz in both English and Spanish is about the proceeding featurette.
| The DVD Lounge’s Ratings for Daddy Day Camp | |
