Daddy Day Camp

''Daddy Day Camp'' (also known as ''Daddy Day Care 2'') is a 2007 American children's comedy film directed by Fred Savage in his feature film directorial debut. It is the sequel to ''Daddy Day Care'' (2003). The film stars Cuba Gooding Jr., who replaces Eddie Murphy from the first film, with a supporting cast of Lochlyn Munro, Richard Gant, Tamala Jones, Paul Rae, and Brian Doyle-Murray. The film follows Charlie Hinton from the first film as he and his cohorts attempt to save their childhood day-camp by entering the Camp Olympiad.

The film was produced by Revolution Studios and released by TriStar Pictures, unlike its predecessor, which was distributed by Columbia Pictures. The film was theatrically released in the United States on August 8, 2007. Despite being a modest box-office success, Daddy Day Camp was universally panned by critics who criticized its gross-out humor, screenplay, performances (primarily of Gooding), and Savage's direction. Many critics consider the film to be one of the worst movies ever made, as well as one of the worst sequels ever produced.

A third and final film '' Grand-Daddy Day Care'', was released direct-to-video in 2019.

Plot

Charlie Hinton and Phil Ryerson take their kids, Max and Ben, to Camp Driftwood for the summer, a camp where they attended as kids in 1977. Once there, they discover that Driftwood is now falling to ruins and also no longer a kindhearted campsite. To save the site, Charlie and Phil buy a partnership from Marty, their childhood camp counsellor. Marty then hands the campsite over to them, along with new bus driver Dale, and eagerly drives off on a vacation, after running the camp for 30 years without one.

Lance Warner, Charlie's childhood rival, now runs the luxurious rival camp Canola, has a son named Bobby J (although he repeatedly denies it), and is eager to buy Driftwood and tear it down. He challenges Driftwood to the upcoming Camp Olympiad, but Charlie refuses, saying he wants nothing more to do with it after losing to Lance when they were kids. The first day of camp turns out to be a disaster involving a skunk caused by Max and an explosion when Phil dropped a match in the bathroom when the light there went out.

As a result, most parents pull their kids from the camp and request refunds, but Charlie and Phil have already spent all the money on repairs, leaving Driftwood with only seven campers instead of the original thirty-five, and in need of financial aid. Charlie reluctantly calls his military father, Colonel Buck Hinton, for help to whip the kids into shape since they have problems following orders. The next day, Driftwood is raided by Canola, which was joined by the twenty-eight campers who left Driftwood, and they steal the Driftwood flag. Buck arrives and starts training the campers easily until Canola raids them again and teases him. Frustrated, Buck chooses to get back on Lance and helps Driftwood recover the flag.

Lance appears and taunts Charlie over his teaching style when he remembers him from the Olympiad they competed in as kids. Charlie responds by accepting the challenge to the Camp Olympiad, so the kids start training for it. While training, the kids admire Buck because of his military ways and support, but Charlie disapproves, not wanting the kids to become like Buck. Charlie believes that Buck only cares about toughness and that Charlie was a disappointment to him. Charlie starts to regret his decision to call Buck when Ben flees to the woods after Mullet Head and Billy tease him about his father's over-protectiveness, because Buck told him that he became 'tough' when he ran off to the woods. They find Ben, and Charlie later complains to Phil about Buck, who overhears them and leaves camp.

On the day of the Olympiad, the others find out that Buck has left. Seeing all the kids discouraged, Charlie looks for Buck and brings him back, resolving his problems with him in the process. When they return, the kids report that they found out that Canola cheated in the Olympiad; this is especially possible when it is revealed that Lance won the 1977 Olympiad. Buck formulates a plan to win against Canola by outsmarting them. After outmatching Canola through to the finals, Driftwood is set for the baton relay: with campmate Mullet Head doing the climbing course and Max doing the sprint - against Bobby J. However, Mullet Head injured his ankle from falling in the three-legged race earlier, so Charlie lets Ben do the climbing course instead, as Ben also knows how to climb by instinct. Ben falls, but his campmates encourage him to keep going. Becca then reveals that Lance greased the wall, corroborating the allegations of cheating; Lance had in fact been doing it for years. Ben uses the tree next to the wall with enough time left to hit the bell, thus giving Driftwood the win and proving himself to his father.

Lance reprimands his son for costing their camp the competition; insulted, as well being fed up with Lance's abuse, Bobby J turns against Lance by talking back and kicking him, making Lance stumble backward into the wall's supports and causing the wall to collapse on top of a trophy display, smashing all the trophies that Canola ever won. Lance breaks down crying. With Driftwood's victory in the bag, the parents who pulled their kids from Driftwood and those who sent their kids to Canola originally decide that Driftwood might set the best example for their kids after all and request permission to send them there, thus saving it from foreclosure. The current Driftwood campers head to get their trophy.

Cast

* Cuba Gooding Jr. as Charlie Hinton, the co-owner of Daddy Day Care and Daddy Day Camp and teacher. He was played by Eddie Murphy in the original film.
* Lochlyn Munro as Lance Warner, Charlie's childhood enemy, and the arrogant, hillbilly owner of the rival camp Canola.
* Richard Gant as Col. Buck Hinton, Charlie's estranged father. He is a military officer who takes army tasks very seriously, but he displays a soft spot for his grandson, Ben, as well as the other campers.
* Paul Rae as Phil Ryerson, co-owner of Daddy Day Care and Daddy Day Camp, Charlie's best friend. He was played by Jeff Garlin in the original film.
* Tamala Jones as Kim Hinton, Charlie's wife. She was played by Regina King in the original film.
* Joshua McLerran as Dale, an oafish young counselor at Camp Driftwood and the driver for the camp's bus.
* Spencir Bridges as Ben Hinton, Charlie's son, Becca and Max's best friend, and a student at Daddy Day Camp. He was played by Khamani Griffin in the original film.
* Brian Doyle-Murray as "Uncle" Morty, former owner of Camp Driftwood.
* Dallin Boyce as Max Ryerson, Phil's son and Becca and Ben's best friend and a student at Daddy Day Camp. He was played by Max Burkholder in the original film.
* Telise Galanis as Juliette, one of the campers whom Robert likes.
* Molly Jepson as Becca, a smart girl, Max and Ben's best friend from when they first met in Daddy Day Care four years ago, and a student at Daddy Day Camp. She was played by Hailey Noelle Johnson in the original film.
* Sean Patrick Flaherty as Robert "Bobby" Jefferson Warner, Lance's bratty, brainless and equally arrogant son, whom he denies having since he hates kids.
* Taggart Hurtubise as Carl, the more independent six-year-old brother of Robert.
* Tad D'Agostino as Robert, a shy, nerdy, and socially awkward boy who falls for Juliette.
* Tyger Rawlings as Billy, a heavyweight bully, who likes to make other people bleed.
* Talon G. Ackerman as Jack Mayhoffer, a nerdy boy (and presumably, the youngest of all the campers). He has a very weak stomach and vomits easily.
* Zachary Allen as Mullet Head, a rebellious but athletic boy with a mullet hairdo.
* Jennifer Lyon as Mrs. Simmons

Production

In August 2003, soon after the release of ''Daddy Day Care'', Murphy was lured into making a sequel, although he hadn't signed up for the film.

Reception

Box office

''Daddy Day Camp'' grossed $13.2 million in the United States and Canada, and $4.9 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $18.2 million.

On opening day ''Daddy Day Camp'' grossed $773,706, and grossed $3,402,678 on opening weekend on over 2,000 screens, coming in 9th place. It went on to gross $18.2 million worldwide making it a modest box office success.

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, ''Daddy Day Camp'' holds an approval rating of 1% based on 80 reviews with an average rating of 2.6/10. The site’s critical consensus reads: "A mirthless, fairly desperate family film, ''Daddy Day Camp'' relies too heavily on bodily functions for comedic effect, resulting in plenty of cheap gags but no laughs." In 2020, a Rotten Tomatoes list considered the film the 15th worst sequel of all time. On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 13 out of 100, based on 19 critics, indicating "overwhelming dislike". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.

Nathan Rabin from The A.V. Club gave the film a rare "F" grade, concluding his review by saying: "All that's left is a generic time-waster powered by a lazy, cynical combination of scatological kiddie humor and maudlin sentiment." Richard Roeper gave the film a "thumbs down" on At the Movies, with Roeper panning the film's child actors and Gooding's performance. Kyle Smith of ''New York Post'' gave the film 0.5 out of 4 stars, panning Gooding's performance as "incompetent" and " epileptic", and the film's writing for its lack of humor.

Accolades

Home media

''Daddy Day Camp'' was released on DVD on January 29, 2008 by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

Notes

References

External links

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{{Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-off or Sequel

Daddy Day Care (film series)
2007 comedy films
2007 films
2007 directorial debut films
2000s American films
2000s children's comedy films
2000s English-language films
American children's comedy films
American sequel films
Davis Entertainment films
Films shot in Utah
Films scored by James Dooley
Films with screenplays by David N. Weiss
Films with screenplays by Joel Cohen
Films with screenplays by Alec Sokolow
Films about summer camps
Films set in summer camps
Golden Raspberry Award–winning films
Revolution Studios films
TriStar Pictures films