Daddy Day Care

Daddy Daycare is a 2003 comedy film starring Eddie Murphy. Written by Geoff Rodkey and directed by Steve Carr, the film was released in theaters on May 9, 2003. It was produced by Revolution Studios and released by Columbia Pictures. Although the film received mostly negative reviews, it was financially successful, grossing $164 million worldwide on a budget of $60 million plus prints and advertising. The 2007 sequel Daddy Day Camp, starring Cuba Gooding, Jr., was almost universally panned by critics but had success in the box office.
==Plot==
Charlie Hinton is a hardworking father whose wife Kim has just gone back to work as a lawyer. They enroll their child, Ben, in Chapman Academy, a very academic pre-school headed by Miss Harridan. Soon after, Charlie and his co worker/friend Phil Ryerson are laid off due to a failed attempt at a Vegetable cereal. Charlie tells his wife Kim what happened and tells her he'll look for a new job. After weeks of trying to get another job and trying to find alternate ways to save money, they have no choice but to withdraw Ben from Chapman Academy and find something affordable. Unfortunately, there are no good alternatives in town and so Kim becomes the sole provider while Charlie becomes a stay at home dad. While at the playground Charlie and Phil meet up with another parent and friend Peggy and son Nikki (who seems to speak no English). She also wants to get back to work but with no good alternative to Chapman she doesn't know what to do with her son. In need of money, he opens up a day care center, Daddy Day Care, with the help of Phil, Peggy gave Charlie the idea when she mentioned that someone should open up a decent daycare around town and also noticing that Ben isn't playing with other kids his age. Charlie and Phil hand out flyers to families and parents all over town and get everything ready, unfortunately Miss Haridan also receives one of the flyers. At first, the local moms are suspicious of men wanting to work with children (mainly because they think they are homosexual or child molesters), but as Daddy Day Care is cheaper and more child-centered than the academy, the latter begins to lose popularity. Miss Harridan attempts to shut down Daddy Day Care by notifying child services that Charlie and Phil are not following the regulations.
Mr. Kubitz, a director of child services notifies them of the codes that need to be fixed, which Charlie and Phil quickly correct. Daddy Day Care grows in popularity and attracts more children, especially Chapman's children. Ms Haridan soon asks to see the two gentlemen and after a talk with them, they realize they need to do more than watch the kids. As more kids join, Mr. Kubitz informs Phil and Charlie that they need another employee to keep an appropriate ratio of children to caregivers. Luckily, Marvin, a former co-worker and Star Trek enthusiast, had dropped by and after seeing how good he is at entertaining the children, Phil and Charlie ask him about joining. Marvin is unsure at first especially since he's not an actual father, but then finds himself falling for Kelli, the single mother of one of the children, and agrees. They soon ask the kids how they can make Daddy Day Care better, the kids give great ideas from more learning, to including art and fun activities.
Later, Mr. Kubitz tells them they have too many kids at Charlie's residence and at this point they have two options; they can either let a few kids go or they find a bigger space. After being unable to let go of any of the kids, they decide to go with the second option. They find an abandoned building with potential that used to be an old hangout spot for Marvin, but they do not have the money to buy it. To get enough funding, they hold a fund raising event called "Rock for Daddy Day Care" which Miss Harridan finds out about. Miss Harridan and her assistant wreck the festival by unplugging a bouncy castle, filling the food with cockroaches, switching face paint with glue, releasing animals from the petting zoo, and turning on the sprinklers. Because of what happened, Daddy Day Care does not raise enough money. Shortly after, Charlie and Phil are offered their old jobs back, even accepting Miss Harridan's offer to take the kids back to the academy. Marvin, upset by the closing of the day care, declines Charlie and Phil's offer to be on board their marketing panel. Unfortunately telling Ben wasn't any easier as Ben has grown used to having his father around.
Charlie soon realizes that marketing cereal is not what it is all cracked up to be, and successfully convinces Phil and Marvin to get the Daycare back in business and during an open house for Chapman Academy reveals the school's true colors. After hearing how the kids had grown while at Daddy Day Care, the children and their parents to return to Daddy Day Care, making it a raging success, and as a result Chapman Academy to shut down. Marvin is now in a relationship with Kelli. Miss Harridan now takes a job as a crossing guard, and her former assistant, Jenny, (Lacy Chabert) joins Daddy Day Care at the new facility which is successful.
== Production ==
In April 2002, The Hollywood Reporter reported Eddie Murphy was to reteam with Steve Carr, who directed Dr. Dolittle 2, on Daddy Day Care. In June 2002, Anjelica Huston was in negotiations to join the cast. The following month, Revolution Studios set Jeff Garlin, as well as Steve Zahn, to join Murphy in the film. Shooting began on August 1, 2002 in Los Angeles, California.
Production was started on August 5, 2002, and wrapped on November 22, 2002. In December 2002, the film's poster was officially released, with the tagline, D-Day is coming.
=== Critical reception ===
On Rotten Tomatoes, Daddy Day Care has an approval rating of 27% based on 132 reviews, with an average rating of 4.51/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Daddy Day Care does its job of babysitting the tots. Anyone older will probably be bored." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 39 out of 100, based on 31 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews." Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale.
Todd McCarthy from Variety called it "Scarcely more amusing than spending ninety minutes in a pre K classroom" and a "comically undernourished junk food snack".
=== Box office ===
Despite the negative critical ratings, the film was a box office success, grossing over $160 million worldwide based on a $60 million budget. The film was released in the United Kingdom on July 11, 2003, and opened at #3, behind Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle and Bruce Almighty. The next two weekends, the film moved down one place, before finally ending up at No. 10 on August 1.
== Trivia ==
* Several scenes from the previews were cut from the final film for unknown reasons.
== Citations ==
Category:2003 films
Category:Films
Category:Columbia Pictures films
Category:Comedy films
Category:Children's films
Category:Revolution Studios films
Category:Davis Entertainment films
Category:Eddie Murphy films
Category:Films distributed by Columbia Pictures
Category:Films starring Jeff Garlin
Category:Films starring Eddie Murphy
Category:2003 American films
Category:Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment
Category:Rated PG
Category:Rated TV-PG
Category:Films starring Steve Zahn
Category:Films starring Regina King
Category:Films starring Anjelica Huston
Category:Films on VHS
Category:Films on DVD
Category:Comedy
Category:Family
Category:Fantasy