Vince Vaughn stars in Delivery Man, the remake of 2011 Canadian film Starbuck. In truth, it’s just a Hollywood version of the original. Ken Scott, who directed the original, returns to direct Delivery Man, apparently re-shooting the same scenes, shot for shot. The film tells the tale of a New York man named David Wozniak (Vince Vaughn), who unknowingly fathered 533 after man sperm donations that became overused due to a administrative error. Many years later 142 of them are suing to learn his identity.
The thing is, David hardly has his own life in order. How can he possibly try and cater to 142 others? He works as a delivery driver for his father’s (Andrzej Blumenfeld) butcher shop, and can barely deliver his packages on time. He’s a constant disappointment to his girlfriend Emma (Cobie Smulders), who just found out she’s pregnant with David’s kid, but knows he isn’t reliable enough to help raise him. Oh, and he’s also in debt to local gangsters who are threatening him and his family if he doesn’t pay up. Nothing is going right for him, and with the discovery of the lawsuit and all his children, things aren’t looking up any.
His lawyer, Brett (Chris Pratt), gives David the identities of all the children suing him. He advises against opening it and potentially getting close to the kids, but of course, David does so anyway. Soon he’s randomly meeting his children, trying to help them out with little small favors or life tips, doing his good dad deed of the day. They have no idea who he is, so he’s acting as their guardian angel of sorts.
To be fair, there was surprising amounts of heartfelt moments here and there, sprinkled in by Scott, who also gets the writing credit. Things unfortunately are brought down by the weight of the comedy, and Vince Vaughn. Too often does the film get bumped down a few levels with the childish humor of Vaughn, forced and brutally humorless (If I ever have to hear “Yo no soy David Wozniak” again..). The only real comedy is found through the film’s saving grace, Chris Pratt. He’s great in every scene he’s in, easily stealing the film.
Delivery Man is another opportunity for Vaughn to sleepwalk through the role, be himself. The thing is, he’s a likeable guy. I’ll give him that. But there’s absolutely zero range in his acting ability. There are some tender scenes in the film, but I constantly found my self being brought out of it by Vaughn, whose really just playing himself.
I was surprised at the some of the messages of love and appreciation for family that Delivery Man tried to bring to the table, because I didn’t expect it to bother to go there. Sometimes it worked. But again and again, the lazyness of the script, and it’s lead actor, tore it to shreds. Aside from these little bits of tenderness, and the loveable Chris Pratt, there’s not much that Delivery Man delivered. Except for disapointment.
Join the conversation