There’s a whole lot of hemming and hawing going on in the reviews of comedian Bill Burr’s new Netflix comedy “Old Dads.”
Here’s a sample of the critical kvetching about the innocent little film that dropped Oct. 20 on the streaming service: “an unfunny assault on PC culture,” “watching a ‘bully’ punch down at assorted cultural straw men” and “the cringe-y equivalent of the ‘Old Man Yells at Cloud’ ‘Simpsons’ gag-turned-meme.”
Sheesh. It’s a run-of-the-mill, enjoyable diversion that will have zero cultural impact — good or bad — and it’s being demonized like saturated fats or a gas-guzzling Hummer.
“How dare you not be ‘Power of the Dog’!,” they shout.
“Martin Scorsese would never,” they bemoan.
The Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, to their credit, mostly liked the movie. Nevertheless, “Old Dads” currently holds a dismal 23% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes after 40 reviews.
That’s a lower rating than some far worse, borderline unwatchable Netflix comedies such as the Jennifer Aniston/Adam Sandler torture instrument “Murder Mystery 2” (45%) and the corked bottle of pinot that was Amy Poehler’s “Wine Country” (66%).
Why must the movie mafia so mercilessly pick on this one? Could it be that “Old Dads” is nothing more than a mischievous bit of fun whose naughty jokes butt heads with the increasingly scolding, schoolmarmish cultural gatekeepers?
The film’s polar-opposite 88% audience score, a real flip of the bird to my colleagues on the aisle, would suggest so. Viewers — surprise, surprise — love watching today’s oh-so-sensitive, lecturing types get pilloried.
In “Old Dads,” which Burr also co-wrote and directed, the brash comedian plays a California man named Jack who’s married to a younger woman and becomes a first-time father in his late 40s.
Now 51, the firebrand is unwillingly exposed to a parade of West Coast millennial parents’ hippy-dippy values, trigger warnings and goopy obsession with feelings at school. Every time a wimpy 30-year-old fellow dad criticizes his hands-off, old-school style, Jack bluntly eviscerates them with an insult.
He cracks mean jokes about soggy paper drinking straws that “save the turtles,” do-nothing startup companies run by moronic 25-year-olds (he works for one) and the ubiquity of preferred pronouns. Burr, who stars alongside Bobby Cannavale and Bokeem Woodbine, also takes on cancel culture and its habit of exposing hypocrisy.
Well-tread territory? Sure, but Burr’s barstool persona provides plenty of laughs. And, unlike the similarly macho “Buddy Games” and many other guys-night-out flicks, “Old Dads” is reasonably well-made.
Plus, there is nothing more delightful in this world than ruthlessly mocking politically correct millennials. It’s so easy and yet so satisfying. But womp-womp critics get all bent out of shape about it.
Fun? Can’t have that!
Cruel jokes about other generations are nothing new. Older comedians taking aim at the changing mores of the young has been a staple of humor forever. Don Rickles, Joan Rivers and Dame Edna Everage forged hugely successful, half-century-long careers doing exactly that.
Suddenly, everybody is outraged at anything offensive. More and more, fun seems to be not allowed on-screen unless it’s served with a heaping side of steamed spinach.
We are fast nearing a downer reality where to be a well-regarded funny movie, you must always tow the culture war line and, better yet, throw in a Hollywood-approved message for self-protection.
Admit it, though — none of those cough syrup comedies (hi, “Barbie”!) are ever truly that hilarious. Academic essays tend not to be.
But no matter what we critics spout, the audience for pure, raunchy humor isn’t going anywhere.