IndieWire has a Sofia Coppola’s list of her favorite films. Suffice to say, she has good taste: “La Notte,” “Uncut Gems,” “Breathless,” “Lolita,” “The Piano,” “The Last Picture Show,” and other classics.
However, one particular film stands out on her list and that’s the 2015 Will Ferrell/Mark Wahlberg comedy “Daddy’s Home.” Know what? It’s a very funny movie, and one that doesn’t get mentioned much when people name their Ferrell favorites.
In 2017, Coppola included it on her submitted list of The New York Times’ 25 Best Films of the 21st Century So Far, she elaborated:
“The only film my kids and I equally enjoy together! I love Will Ferrell, and this movie is sweet and fun to watch with cracking-up kids.”
“Daddy’s Home” starred Ferrell as a stepfather in a bitter rivalry with his stepkids’ biological father (Wahlberg). A ridiculously bad sequel was released in 2017.
The reviews for “Daddy’s Home” were actually very bad. It had a 30% on Rotten Tomatoes and 42 on Metacritic. Critics tend to be fairly allergic with these kind of dumb comedies, but they were wrong about this one.
This is Will Ferrel after all, it is not sophisticated comedy, but Wahlberg and Ferrell have great chemistry. It's outrageously infantile, but sometimes checking your brain at the door can make a for an entertaining time.
I'd add this movie just a notch below "Anchorman," "Old School," "Talladega Nights," and "Step Brothers” in the Ferrell pantheon. If you count his “Wedding Crashers” cameo (“Ma, the meat loaf!”) then that one should be added as well to the mix.