A young man (Elijah Wood) receives a letter from his long-estranged father (Stephen McHattie) requesting his presence in his home. Their initial meeting is cordial, though awkward as hell. Things take a turn for the worse however once daddy starts drinking and becomes verbally abusive towards his son. There is an altercation, and then...
Well… to go any further would spoil the twist that occurs halfway through. Let’s just say things take a turn (and not necessarily for the best) and it becomes an entirely different film. Unfortunately, the first half is a lot more fun mostly due to the odd performance by McHattie.
While the set-up is promising, the second act is kind of a letdown. There is such a shift in energy and tone that it often feels like the filmmakers took two completely different scripts and Frankensteined them together. The latter half just tries way too hard to be weird and edgy. Imagine what a hipster version of a David Lynch film would look like and that might give you some clue as to what to expect.
This portion of the picture is not without its highlights. I mean you get to see Martin Donovan like you’ve never seen him before. As a longtime fan of Donovan’s, I was intrigued by seeing him in such an atypical role, especially one that allowed him to channel some darkly humorous vibes. Too bad he’s so incapacitated that it all feels like a wasted opportunity.
Wood’s eccentric character can only take the movie so far. You know you’re in trouble when you see his haircut and mustache. It almost screams, “Hey, look at how goofy our main character looks!”
Overall, Come to Daddy isn’t exactly bad per se. It’s just that the two wildly inconsistent halves don’t mesh into a satisfying whole. Some may applaud the weirdness-for-weirdness-sake approach to the second half, but for me, it lacked the dry spark of the early scenes.
In short, stay away from Come to Daddy.
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