In “Old Dads,” middle-aged suburban dads get the “Bad Moms”/“Bad Teacher”/“Bad Santa” treatment. It’s a comedy written, co-directed, and co-starred in by the Bostonian Bill Burr, currently one of the world’s top stand-up comics. Which is why I imagine it has a dismal critic-rating of 24 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, because, God forbid, a comedian should dare to stretch out of his comfort zone and direct a film. Audiences, at 88 percent clearly beg to differ.
The low critic-rating probably also has to with the fact that the critic-body is largely liberal, and Burr is primarily known for representing older, Trump-voting, NFL-MLB-NHL-NBA-UFC-NASCAR fans—the “toxic” American male demographic who are completely fed up with feminism, America’s creeping communism, and the entire content of the woke spectrum. And who rants nonstop about it onstage in hilarious fashion.
Couple of Examples
Cases in point would be such scenarios like the one where a Caucasian man tells another Caucasian man to “check his privilege,” and where an insufferably sanctimonious school principal compares a tiny, inter-parental spat to the Rwandan genocide. Granted, Burr’s character probably should not have called this principal, to his wife’s horror, that one particular word. Which word? The word, that—as a teary female parent explains—is to women what the N-word is to black people.Also the scenario where it’s demonstrated just how the communist thought-police are almost upon us: the titular trio of old dads get fired because a car company reports their highly un-PC conversations on a hidden dash-cam. And then forwards them to the smarmy, “gender-fluid” brat-boss in charge of business account expenses, whom the old dads sold their t-shirt company to, and who they now work for.
What Goes On
“Old Dads” tells the story of three best friends who’ve become dads later in life. In addition to Burr’s Jack Kelly, his two buddies are: Mike (Bokeem Woodbine)—divorced with adult kids and a girlfriend, and Connor Brody (Bobby Cannavale) who’s wife Cara (Jackie Tohn) wears the pants and stands guard like a hissing cobra over their spoiled-brat terror of a son (Dominic Grey Gonzalez), supporting, 100-percent, their kid’s right to bully everybody else’s kids.
As mentioned, the three men just sold their vintage-sports-t-shirt business to a large company. Cashing in has allowed Jack to afford an expensive private school education for his son Nate (Dash McCloud). It also means their corporate-overlord-appointed 20-something Gen-Z brat Aspen (Miles Robbins) rules their lives.
All three of these old dads are being marginalized on the domestic front as well. Jack’s road-rage-y temper is a growing problem with his tolerant, but increasingly unamused wife; Mike is commitment-phobic in the wake of his divorce, and Connor is weary of the routine emasculation.
Will Our Heroes Figure These Troubled Times Out?
“Old Dads” is a good streaming movie. The well-balanced mix of comedy and drama makes for a decent movie night. Fans of Bill Burr’s comedy will find much of the material here familiar in tone and content; the sending up and excoriating of cancel culture, the hypersensitivity of younger-generational males, and the challenges of fatherhood (Mr. Burr himself is a recent new dad).All these topics are channeled through Mr. Burr’s hysterical, hair-trigger volatility and outrage concerning any situation where a bunch of sheep refuse to address the elephant in the room, or can’t bring themselves to loudly point out that the emperor isn’t wearing any clothes, due largely to irritating PC culture.
Burr tries to find a balance between comedy and drama with “Old Dads”; a not-insignificant challenge for a first-time director—one could easily bite off more than one can chew. He’s clearly not interested in frat-boy demographic-targeting with adult-oriented male-bonding comedies like “The Hangover.” He’d prefer to leaven the comedy with truth culled from weighty real-life experiences that have consequences. Which is an attempt one kind of has to raise a glass to.
The resulting men-behaving-badly comedy that’s not afraid to question the bad behavior, has, of course, its share of film-making craft issues; the pacing’s uneven, and many scenes only hold together due to Mr. Burr’s standup instincts. But the fact that he can use his standup prowess to cover his lack of film-making experience is impressive.
In terms of the content, it’s also important to note that Mr. Burr never implies that what his character says and does is right, and that he has any answers. Although he’s dragged kicking and screaming to the revelation that he needs to point the finger at himself instead of at others—he’s ultimately game for what is, in fact, the foundation of all spiritual practices and religions. This is a portrait of a man who’s muddling through the best he can, with good intentions and eventually a willingness to change. And while not as funny as his actual standup routines, “Old Dads” still packs pretty good laughs.
“Old Dads” is currently streaming on Netflix.
