Old Dads

I suspect this film will get some bad reviews, particularly if you aren't familiar with Bill Burr's stand up or you find his style of comedy a bit much (Michael McIntyre he's not). Personally I'm a big fan of Bill and the character he plays in this film is pretty much the one you get in his stand up shows.

The movie was written by Bill and that's evident straight from the start with the dialogue very much in his style and in line with his stand up contains several amusing scenes with middle aged men trying to understand the world of woke. However I felt the film lost some pacing and ran out of steam a little in the second half, as Bill's character makes the transition into something more acceptable to modern society.

Worth a watch if you like Bill. If you don't then maybe not.

This film will divide generations, I consider myself as quite a liberal sort of person but the mauling this is getting from certain critics says more about them than anything. If you like Bill Burr then you'll love this movie, if you are easily offended and like to pretend that everything can be sanitised and pigeonholed away then you probably won't.

It's a Bill Burr stand up routine in the form of a movie, it's not cancel culture (as some would describe) but more about how ridiculous the world seems these days compared to what people like me (a 50 something) grew up with. Personally I found it laugh out loud funny, something original in a sea of mediocrity.

Let me start by saying that there is a definite trigger warning if you are a man in the male cast members age group. There is plenty of realism here with how women treat men especially in relation to the children. The plot is simple and pretty predictable but the men in this film took more mess than they deserved. There was really no apology or remorse from the offenders. As I said I guess it's realistic and very sad for older men. The whole scene with the children's private school and the head of the school was absolutely disgusting. The fact that the females turn on their men so quickly is just a sad thing to see. My hope is that women watching this movie will open their eyes and see how damaging their words can be and realize that..even though as a mother your child is a top priority.. you can easily push the man away at the same time.

Old Dads is essentially a snapshot of Bill Burr's longstanding stand up routines so there aren't many surprises for the viewer.

So as a result your like or dislike of the movie will basically hinge on your opinion of Burr himself.

Its a softer representation of his material, I guess in an attempt to widen the audience and it does work from that perspective.

Its also very much a case of the older you are the more I think you will like the movie. Old Dads is full of generational jokes, pitting those who had to walk 5 miles in the snow to get to school vs the modern 'snowflakes'.

Its funny enought to get you by :)

Old Dads is at its best when it's closest to Bill Burr's stand up. A mixture of him just complaining about everything and his fear of passing his untamed anger onto his children. It struggles a lot more when it turns those complaints into people and is very rushed in its resolution but remains a fun watch overall.

Bill Burr himself is a good lead, funny yet flawed with some pretty vulnerable moments. Bokeem Woodbine works really well as the calmest of the three and Bobby Cannavale is so entertaining in this completely over the top performance. He's obsessed with being seen as cool and it leads to some of the best moments.

Bill Burr's direction is fine. As a debut there's always added pressure to bring something extra to announce yourself and whilst Burr doesn't do that it remains technically competent and his writing and performance combined make up for the journeyman filmmaking on display.