Grand-Daddy Day Care (2019) User Reviews

Let in the clowns

[nogodnomasters · 4/10 · 11 February 2019]

Frank (Reno Wilson) is a writer with writer's block. His family takes in his aging father-in-law Eduardo (Danny Trejo). Eduardo is a former lawyer, ex-con, and has periods of forgetfulness. Circumstances lead to Frank opening up an unlicensed day care for seniors. This gets him in legal trouble.

The film consists of a lot of past careers of people I thought should have had better gigs for their talents. There was a lot of silly slapstick. The humor wasn't great, but some might find it acceptable.

Guide: No swearing, sex, or nudity. Warning: Polka music.

Cute, and not that bad.

[winopaul · 6/10 · 10 December 2020]

OK, this came up on Bounce, broadcast TV, so it is not like I paid anything. Firstly, the actors were great. I love Danny Trejo. I was astonished to see how obese George Wendt has gotten. He is in a life-threatening situation, so I guess that is one way to make me care about a character, wondering if he will have a stroke on camera.

The script was a bit formulaic, but when the ex-con played by Trejo knew not to let a government employee into the house, I felt the need to write a review to defend the movie against all the negative reviews. Learn from Danny, never let a government employee into your house. (Yes, I do know they don't need a warrant to inspect a home business, but it's OK dramatic license.) I thought the interplay of a street-smart jail-house lawyer and a nice middle-class family was well done.

This movie was a little "corporate," in the somewhat unbelievable diversity of the cast, I don't want to watch a movie based on demographics, but on believable relationships. But it was not too far off the mark, and having seen friends go to assisted living homes, with a stint in a nursing home now and then, there was charm to the plot, and dialog, and characters.

I liked the sub-plot of the shy son liking the cute girl. He might have been type-cast, but he really came across like a nice shy kid, so I really liked that actor. He did his role very well.

This is not a sit-com humor, it is more subtle and gentle, so don't look for howling snarky knee-slappers, just a nice knowing chuckle, especially if you have hung around a retirement village at all.

Thanks to IMDb, I looked up the writers, Robbie Fox and David H. Steinberg. These guys are not slouches, they did pretty good job making a nice clean entertaining movie. The direction is pretty good too, like the kid's audition sequence inter-woven with a montage. Not Citizen Kane, but good solid stuff.

I also liked that the government guy was a pain, and officious, and a nice bureaucrat just doing horrible things since he felt he could. The banality of evil.

OK, the movie has 15 minutes left, including the commercials. I am glad I stuck it out, it's actually interesting to me to see what happens. What more can you ask of a free movie?

As a parting note, I clean up a joke told me by a pal that spent a little time in San Quentin: "I spent so many years pleasuring myself in the shower, now that I am out, I can only make love to my wife when it rains."

aahhh sequels......

[ksf-2 · 6/10 · 17 December 2021]

Dan trejo is eduardo, father to frank (reno wilson), who is father to jordan. And now that eduardo is out of the joint, all three generations will be living under one roof. Hijinx ensue. Frank comes up with the bright idea of setting up a senior day care, but he didn't know how wacky and needy they would be. It gets pretty silly. And frank keeps falling on his butt. Lots of chuckles. With a side of serious thrown in...when eduardo starts to have episodes where he doesn't know where he is. Some fun co-stars. Hal linden, george wendt, julia duffy, garrett morris. Directed by ron oliver. It's ok... pretty weak script; with all that acting talent they hired, they should have provided a better script for them.

Offensively ageist and offensively un-funny

[cynycyl · 2/10 · 19 February 2019]

Let me lead off with being a fan of nearly every performer in this movie. I've seen, and gone out of my way to see, most of these actors works, whether it be on TV or the big screen. I know family friendly comedies will be safe, middle-of-the-road and take few risks so I watch it with all these expectations. Safe but entertaining, amusing and a chance to see some faces you don't see much these days (Hal Linden, Julia Duffy, Barry Bostwick, George Wendt, James Hong, Linda Gray). The idea of a stymied author making some much needed money on the side by taking in various elderly folks in the neighborhood so they can also keep his newly-moved-in father-in-law (Danny Trejo) company is fine. However, some of these folks aren't that old, yet they have them behave...across the board...as decrepit, frail, clueless, just out of it. Take every old person stereotype you can think of, it's here. Take every old person "joke" and it's them. The writer of the movie seems to have forgotten that old people don't think of themselves as old, most of the time. They are just people that sometimes get held back by their age, but their interests and desires are not "old". The people in this were young in the 60s, 70s and 80s, but they don't use references or show interests that reflect that. Again, it's just really rough, broad stereotypes, skeletons of characters never fleshed out. A movie that could have been Grumpy Old Men (and Women) on steroids becomes a cringe-worthy exercise in laughing *at*, not with, the elderly. The cast deserved so much better than this.

It's an hour and 36 minutes of forced humor

[MinistryofDoom · 2/10 · 22 September 2019]

A questionable user review on IMDB gives it a 10/10 and says "I Love Eddie Murphy". I can only hope that you've actually seen the film and are just trolling the rest of us, because this movie is definitely NOT a 10/10 and, well, Eddie Murphy isn't even starring in it.

This 3rd entry in the Daddy Day Care films is a straight to video film which has absolutely nothing to do with the first two (Daddy Day Care and Daddy Day Camp). In fact, the star isn't Eddie Murphy but someone who suspiciously looks and acts like him: Reno Wilson. However, this isn't the first time that the writers of Daddy Day Car gave us the ol' switcheroo. Remember, Cuba Gooding Jr. was brought in for Daddy Day Camp to take over from Eddie Murphy, and yes he pretty much cosplayed as Eddie in that film too. It's almost as if writers come up with a formula and can't seem to stray away from it? Nah....must be coincidence.

The basic premise is that this guy, Frank Collins, is writer. He's staying at home to work on his next masterpiece but he also has to take care of, and entertain, his aging father-in-law played by Machete himself, the one and only Danny Trejo. He's old, noisy, and annoying and preventing Collins from finishing his work. One thing leads to another, more old people show up, and it becomes a business opportunity full of slapstick comedy, poop jokes, and drug fueled shenanigans. The problem is that the writing isn't great so the comedy bits feel forced and unfunny.

It might be worth your time, but only as a last resort if you can't find anything better to watch.

Crippled by correctitude

[ginocox-206-336968 · 3/10 · 30 September 2019]

Grand-Daddy Day Care (2019) is mildly amusing at times. It is a bit predictable and formulaic. Its faults are often more easily recognized than its virtues. Unfortunately, it often seems to shoot itself in the foot by emphasizing political correctitude over humor.

Frank (Reno Wilson) is an African-American married to Hispanic-American Emma (Roxana Ortega), which provides an element of politically-correct, socially-aware diversity and inclusion, as well as comedic and dramatic opportunities for conflict over cultural differences. But these aren't explored. The current Hollywood ethos demands that characters be interchangeable. James Bond doesn't need to be Scottish or even British, Anglo-Saxon or male. He could be a black female. But interchangeable characters tend to be shallow. Filmmakers seem to think audiences want diversity, rather than complex, three-dimensional characters and seem loath to suggest any conflicts arising out of cultural differences, as that might be perceived as demeaning one culture or the other.

Emma's father Eduardo (movie tough guy Danny Trejo) never approved of Frank and thought he wasn't good enough for his daughter, but the reasons are left vague. The characters aren't given any challenge to overcome. Instead, the conflict is minimized by saying that every father feels that way - it's nothing personal. Besides, Eduardo secretly admires Frank. But this also minimizes the potential for drama and comedy.

Frank's son Jordan (Anthony Gonzalez) is enamored with classmate Annie (Jayden Bartels) who seems to be the most beautiful girl at school. Jordan is awkward, insecure, awkward and inexperienced. Annie is popular, talented, outgoing and inexplicably unattached, but interested in Jordan for reasons that are not at all clear. Again, rather than developing conflicts for comedic potential, they are ignored or minimized. Yes, she is interested, but her concept of a steamy relationship seems to be hanging out together while maintaining an appropriate physical separation and discussing nothing at all while staring off into space contemplating the wonderfulness of inclusion riders.

It's distressing to think this might represent the future of comedy in a society more concerned with political correctitude and not triggering snowflakes than making people laugh at the differences that simultaneously separate and unite us. John Vorhaus defines comedy as truth and pain. Grand-Daddy Day Care seems determined to avoid pain. But in so doing, it also avoids truth. We're given shallow two-dimensional caricatures rather than fully-developed characters. But aren't they diverse?

Fun and touching

[Carlie64 · 7/10 · 18 January 2020]

It's a movie where you put your feet up and " vegetate " . It's not Oscar worthy but its entertaining and touching. I thought it was fun.

Straight to DVD retired no-work actors

[spontaneouscombustionlad · 1/10 · 11 July 2019]

While I dont doubt these actors could do a great job with a good script, story, etc. it is very telling that the absolute A-lister top of the bill person for this movie is washed up Danny Trejo.

Bad writing, bad plot, bad jokes, bad effects (what few there are).

We couldnt even finish the movie. I want my dollar back.

Enjoyable

[chevs_rule_eh · 7/10 · 12 July 2019]

I liked it, I mean it isn't going to win any awards for groundbreaking ideas, but it was a movie that I made it through in one sitting (with my attention span that's saying something). I've seen reviews saying "ageist", I don't see it. There's a guy who sees and opportunity for making money from people pawning off a group of people who are typically seen as incapable or in the way, but a heartwarming tale ensues with a good amount of head trauma. Basically a coming of age movie for an adult.

Terrible

[prestonheil · 1/10 · 4 May 2019]

Ok as far as comedy goes blahh for real this isnt a comedy not even much of a movie it's like the worst I think spoiler is this movie has no comedy so be prepared its even that funny at all

Foe the whole family

[janisjs7-183-844120 · 10/10 · 15 October 2019]

I really liked this movie. It's difficult sometimes to find a movie like this that the whole family can watch. It was very funny and I liked the actors--they really drew me in. There wasn't a dull moment in this movie and it kept my attention throughout. It was so good to simply relax, not have to worry about violence or swear words, and you can learn from the characters as well. I'm looking forward to seeing more movies like this.

Put Grand-Daddy Day Care in a Grave

[skylerislame · 1/10 · 6 April 2020]

I wanted to review this movie to warn anyone to never ever force yourself to sit through this movie that has now become the bane of my existence. I even made an IMDb account to do so. This movie is by far the worst excuse of a film I have ever seen - and that is saying a lot, as I've endured classics like Truth or Dare (no, not the Lucy Hale version, the worse 2017 version), After, The Kissing Booth, SPF-18, and #Roxy. I never thought I'd find truly the worst movie I've ever seen - rather, I expected to find a lot of bad movies that I really didn't like - but here I am, writing this review. To begin, the lack of un-originality in this movie disgusts me on a level I never knew I could be disgusted on. It is basically the same exact plot of Daddy Day Care, a just-fine movie that most people regard with fondness. Of course, this was to be expected when I first read the godforsaken title "Grand-Daddy Day Care," but still, I can't believe how just bad this plot line is. If you have ever once watched Daddy Day Care and thought, "hmm, this movie's plot is kind of boring and not really that funny," then please do not ever watch this garbage-can-on-fire film. It is undoubtedly a hundred times worse than the original, whether you like Daddy Day Care or not. Furthermore, I never once laughed during the whole hour and 36 minutes that I sat watching this. The humor was forced in so many places, and I found myself praying to god the jokes that were so unfunny that I would rather cut my ears off than hear them ever again would end. Not to mention, the movie suddenly changes gears and goes to a weird place that I suppose is meant to be heartfelt? But because of how little I cared for each godawful character in this movie, I didn't empathize with the so-called "adversities" these characters were facing. The writers of this movie managed to make even the stars so insignificant that I honestly couldn't recall their names and more than one trait about them if I tried. This movie had absolutely no purpose - I can't even say it was a good attempt at a family film. There was nothing to it; I sincerely wish someone at some point during the filming of this movie suddenly found some common sense and said, "hey, maybe we shouldn't make this movie." That would have not only prevented me from wasting my time, but prevented every actor or person who worked on this disgrace of a film's time as well. All in all, don't watch this movie. Please. Only watch it if movies that leave you both unsatisfied and disgusted, as well as give you a headache and make you cry because of how bad it is, are your thing.

Boring as hell

[lvalyani · 1/10 · 13 June 2020]

I hated this piece of boring garbage. It feels and looks W Network sitcom. The stock music soundtrack hurts my ears. Everybody is terrible acting in this thing. There is no plot structure whatsoever. The most awful thing about this "movie" is the "character" is Ned Tooley, he the most annoying character I have ever witnessed. I wanted to die.

Sad and unfunny

[kbarnett-166-957505 · 3/10 · 15 March 2020]

Seeing these actors from the 70s and 80s try to lift this pathetic script into a comedy is sad and pathetic. This movie has as many laughs as a book of carpet samples. Just terrible.

BAD

[shanegjohnston · 1/10 · 6 March 2020]

I didn't even watch the movie, THATS how bad it was

Not even worth it.

[deliciouslycorrect · 1/10 · 23 November 2020]

It was horrible. One of those movies I'm glad I actually didn't pay to watch. It shouldn't even exist. Netflix needs to just hide it somewhere. There was no entertainment. It was boring. It had nothing funny about it. And the forced humor did not help at all. The mini clip of so called Charlie was disappointing. Completely left field the original character. Where was his son? His wife? Like seriously they tried and they epically failed.

half cooked

[bj_shirley · 2/10 · 5 February 2020]

The grandpa is the only believable person in this movie. have to admit i only watched the first 15 min. the headboard in one of the scenes was moving when the mom and dad went lay down. netflix if you're going to put this quality of content up there just know i will very apprehensive about trying other 'sound like' movies and shows.

I love eddie murphy!!!

[witty-10398 · 10/10 · 20 April 2019]

My friend eddie was amazing with a captial A! I just couldn't stop laughing, this is probably the funniest movie i've seen since daddy day camp!!! 8/10