Why Him? is one of those movies that may hit a little too close to home for many viewers. If you have a daughter, this might not be a comedy. It could turn out to be a horror movie. Why Him? stars Bryan Cranston as a man whose daughter is dating James Franco, who looks to be playing the most James Franco-ish character the man has ever played. (Well, outside of Spring Breakers.) It's said he has no filter, and this is true. This is a red-band trailer, and the language does fly, so this is certainly NSFW.
Ned's daughter is daddy's little girl. Unfortunately, she's all grown up now and is dating a complete jackass. Laird is a Silicon Valley tech billionaire who just says what he thinks, with mostly terrible results. It's bad enough that Ned's daughter is dating the guy, but it all gets much, much worse when Ned discovers that Laird plans to propose. What follows looks to be Laird attempting to prove himself to dad, while dad tries to figure out how to get his daughter out of this mess.
At first glance, Why Him? actually looks pretty funny. While Bryan Cranston has certainly done his share of comedy, he's so well known as the Breaking Bad guy, that seeing him doing mainstream comedy again feels shocking and new. James Franco looks to be playing a fairly typical role for himself, but there's a reason that Franco does these parts. He's really good at it.
With these sorts of comedies, the fear is always that every good joke is in the trailer. That doesn't appear to be the case, however. There are some great bits here of both physical and verbal comedy, but nothing that feels like they're giving away all the best jokes for free. The biggest moment in the trailer is when James Franco's character shows off his new tattoo.
To be fair, after seeing this scene, we're pretty sure the character has terrible judgement. Dad may be on the right track thinking he's not great relationship material.
We'd very nearly forgotten what a great comic actor Bryan Cranston really was, it's been an awfully long time since Malcolm in the Middle. He certainly hasn't lost anything. The supporting cast, that includes Megan Mullally, Keegan Michael Key, and what appears to be a cameo by Adam DeVine, can only add to Why Him?
We're not sure this is the best choice for a family Christmas movie, but for fans who are looking for something a little different, Why Him? will be in theaters this holiday season.
