Daddy Day Camp: Almost Zero on the Tomatometer

On some deep-down, perverse level, critics probably enjoy watching bad movies,
if only because it gives them the chance to drop some super-snarky lines in
their reviews. This week’s punching bag:
Daddy Day Camp
(starring Cuba
Gooding Jr. in
Eddie Murphy’s previous role, and directed by Fred "Kevin from The Wonder
Years" Savage) with a rare three percent Tomatometer.

Cuba Gooding Jr. and Fred Savage.
Check our list below; the movie concept of "square dads with suddenly a lot of
kids" never sits well with critics. But with Daddy Day Camp, in which
Gooding’s character corrals kids into a derelict lake campground, this subgenre
is plumbing the lowest depths of the Tomatometer.

New York Post punster

Kyle Smith gives up a one-two punch with a single sentence: not only is
Daddy Day Camp "a camp for no ages," but it "has an amazing amount of CGI —
Cuba Gooding Incompetence." Also joining from the Rotten Apple is

Elizabeth Weitzman, offering this relative praise: "Daddy Day Camp, the
unexpected sequel to 2003’s barely watchable comedy Daddy Day Care, is
superior to its inspiration in one very significant way. It’s three minutes
shorter."

Cuba Gooding Jr. and Josh McLerran.
Critics are also concerned with the direction of Gooding’s career. Aside from a
Radio here, or an As Good as It Gets there, Gooding hasn’t had a
major winner since his Oscar.

Washington Post’s Desson Thomson claims that "it’s gotten to the point where
Gooding’s presence on a marquee practically guarantees we’ll be bashing our
heads against the seat in front of us."

But who’s the lone dissenter, granting Daddy with a three percent
Tomatometer with his sole Fresh review? Regular RT contributor

Fred Topel, writing for Can Mag, states: "Look, it’s summer, [kids] need a
movie about kids in camp causing trouble and learning good values. They did a
fine job with the material."

But going back to the others, here’s further adventures in
critical sarcasm:

Toronto Star: "Not quite as funny as a perforated ulcer."

St. Paul Pioneer Press: "Have your little ones already seen
Ratatouille and
rented
Thunderpants?"

Eric Snider: "The screenplay is attributed to three writers. That means if
the film’s funny parts were divided evenly among them, they each wrote zero."

Austin Chronicle: "If we were judging on a flatulence scale, Daddy Day
Camp would earn at least three farts. But on the star scale, the wind kind
of gets knocked out of their sales." 

One Guy’s Opinion: "Memo to Cuba: if you’re offered the lead in a sequel to
Murphy’s
Pluto Nash, say no." (One Guy’s Opinion)

Recent Babysitting Dad Movies
———————————–
6% —
Cheaper by the Dozen 2 (2005)
5% — Yours,
Mine, and Ours (2005)
29% — Daddy Day
Care (2003)
24% —
Cheaper by the Dozen (2003)