Daddy Day Camp

Last updated
Daddy Day Camp
Daddy day campmp.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Fred Savage
Screenplay by Geoff Rodkey
J. David Stem
David N. Weiss
Story byGeoff Rodkey
Joel Cohen
Alec Sokolow
Based onCharacters
by Geoff Rodkey
Produced byWilliam Sherak
Jason Shuman
Starring
CinematographyGeno Salvatori
Edited byMichel Aller
Music by Jim Dooley
Production
companies
Distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing
Release date
  • August 8, 2007 (2007-08-08)
Running time
89 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$6 million [1]
Box office$18.2 million [1]

Daddy Day Camp (also known as Daddy Day Care 2) is a 2007 American children's comedy film directed by Fred Savage in his feature film directorial debut. The film stars Cuba Gooding Jr., with a supporting cast of Lochlyn Munro, Richard Gant, Tamala Jones, Paul Rae, and Brian Doyle-Murray. It is the second installment in the Daddy Day Care film series, and Gooding's last widely released film before he shifted to direct-to-video films for five years until 2012.

Contents

The film was produced by Revolution Studios and released by TriStar Pictures, unlike its predecessor, which was distributed by Columbia Pictures. The film was theatrically released in the United States on August 8, 2007, and was panned by film critics. It has a 1% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and is considered to be one of the worst sequels ever produced. As of 2024, it is the only film directed by Fred Savage.

Plot

Charlie and Phil take their kids, Max and Ben, to Camp Driftwood for the summer, [a] a camp where they attended as kids in 1977. Once there, they discover that Driftwood is now falling to ruins and also no longer a kindhearted campsite. To save the site, Charlie and Phil buy a partnership from the younger man who ran it when they were children, after the older partner and the original counselor run off on vacation, save for bus driver Dale, after spending thirty years running the camp without a vacation.

Lance Warner, Charlie's childhood rival, now runs the luxurious rival camp Canola, has a son named Bobby J (although he denies it), and is eager to buy Driftwood and tear it down. He challenges Driftwood to the upcoming Camp Olympiad, but Charlie refuses, saying he wants nothing more to do with it after losing to Lance when they were kids. The first day of camp turns out to be a disaster involving a skunk caused by Max and an explosion when Phil dropped a match in the bathroom when the light there went out.

As a result, most parents pull their kids from the camp and request refunds, but Charlie and Phil have already spent all the money on repairs, leaving Driftwood with only 7 campers instead of the original 35, and in need of financial aid. Charlie reluctantly calls his military father, Colonel Buck Hinton, for help to whip the kids into shape since they have problems following orders. The next day, Driftwood is raided by Canola, which was joined by the twenty-eight campers who left Driftwood, and they steal the Driftwood flag. Buck arrives and starts training the campers easily until Canola raids them again and teases him. Frustrated, Buck chooses to get back on Lance and helps Driftwood recover the flag.

Lance appears and taunts Charlie over his teaching style when he remembers him from the Olympiad they competed in as kids. Charlie responds by accepting the challenge to the Camp Olympiad, so the kids start training for it. While training, the kids admire Buck because of his military ways and support, but Charlie disapproves, not wanting the kids to become like Buck. Charlie believes that Buck only cares about toughness and that Charlie was a disappointment to him. Charlie starts to regret his decision to call Buck when Max flees to the woods after Lance and some of his fellow campmates tease him about his father's over-protectiveness because Buck told him that he became 'tough' when he ran off to the woods. They find Ben, and Charlie later complains to Phil about Buck, who overhears them and leaves camp.

On the day of the Olympiad, the others find out that Buck has left. Seeing all the kids discouraged, Charlie looks for Buck and brings him back, resolving his problems with him in the process. When they return, the kids report that they found out that Canola cheated in the Olympiad; this is especially possible when it is revealed that Lance won the 1977 Olympiad. Buck formulates a plan to win against Canola by outsmarting them. After outmatching Canola through to the finals, Driftwood is set for the baton relay: with campmate Mullet Head doing the climbing course and Max doing the sprint - against Bobby J. Mullet Head eventually injures his ankle from falling in the three-legged race, so Charlie lets Ben do the climbing course instead, as Ben also knows how to climb by instinct. Ben falls, but his campmates encourage him to keep going and Becca even shows everyone that Lance greased the wall, corroborating the allegations of cheating; Lance had in fact been doing it for years. Ben uses the tree next to the wall with enough time left to hit the bell, thus giving Driftwood the win and proving himself to his father.

Lance reprimands his son for costing their camp the competition; insulted, as well being fed up with Lance's abuse, Bobby J turns against Lance by talking back and kicking him, making Lance stumble backward into the wall's supports and causing the wall to collapse on top of a trophy case, smashing all the trophies that Canola ever won. Lance breaks down crying. With Driftwood's victory in the bag, the parents who pulled their kids from Driftwood and those who sent their kids to Canola originally decide that Driftwood might set the best example for their kids after all and request permission to send them there, thus saving it from foreclosure. The current Driftwood campers head to get their trophy.

Cast

Production

In August 2003, soon after the release of Daddy Day Care, Murphy was lured into making a sequel, although he hadn't signed up for the film. [3]

Reception

Box office

Daddy Day Camp grossed $13.2 million in the United States and Canada, and $4.9 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $18.2 million. [1]

On opening day Daddy Day Camp grossed $773,706, and grossed $3,402,678 on opening weekend on over 2,000 screens, coming in 9th place. It went on to gross $18.2 million worldwide making it a modest box office success. [1]

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes Daddy Day Camp holds an approval rating of 1% based on 79 reviews, with an average rating of 2.28/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "A mirthless, fairly desperate family film, Daddy Day Camp relies too heavily on bodily functions for comedic effect, resulting in plenty of cheap gags, but no laughs." [4] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 13 out of 100, based on 19 critics, indicating "overwhelming dislike". [5]

Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale. [6] Nathan Rabin from The A.V. Club gave the film a rare "F" grade. [7]

Accolades

AwardCategorySubjectResult
Golden Raspberry Awards Worst Actor Cuba Gooding Jr. Nominated
Worst Screenplay Geoff Rodkey Nominated
J. David StemNominated
David N. Weiss Nominated
Worst Picture William SherakNominated
Jason ShumanNominated
Worst Director Fred Savage Nominated
Worst Prequel or Sequel Won

Home media

Daddy Day Camp was released on DVD on January 29, 2008 by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

Notes

  1. This happens four years after the events of Daddy Day Care.

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References

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  2. "Telise Galanis". Rotten Tomatoes . Fandango Media . Retrieved May 12, 2015.
  3. "'Daddy Day Care' sequel planned". Jam! Movies . August 13, 2003. Archived from the original on April 23, 2016. Retrieved January 8, 2016.
  4. "Daddy Day Camp (2007)". Rotten Tomatoes . Fandango Media . Retrieved June 23, 2019.
  5. "Daddy Day Camp Reviews". Metacritic . CBS Interactive . Retrieved November 21, 2016.
  6. "Cinemascore". CinemaScore . Retrieved November 21, 2016.
  7. Rabin, Nathan (August 10, 2007). "Daddy Day Camp". The A.V. Club . Onion, Inc. Retrieved August 10, 2007.