Summary

Standup comedian Bill Burr’s directorial debut, “Old Dads,” is packed with secular and offensive jokes that often overstay their welcome. The film focuses on the angry old guy archetype who is frustrated with the changing times, but this tired and unfunny perspective gets exhausting after a while. The film’s strongest aspect is the chemistry between the main characters and their friendship, but it is overshadowed by the overplayed humor and lack of meaningful commentary.

Standup comedian Bill Burr is no stranger to pushing the limits in his comedy. And in his directorial debut, Old Dads, he pushes it far. Burr stars as Jack Kelly, a businessman, husband, and father with a temper and raunchy mouth that puts him in more trouble than it’s worth. When an eccentric, new millennial CEO takes over the company he’s made with his best friends Connor (Bobby Cannavale) and Mike (Bokeem Woodbine), Jack’s anger boils over, sending him possibly to a point of no return. Old Dads is packed with secular and, at times, offensive jokes which often overstay their welcome. Yet, there’s something honest (and fun) about this film that will sit well with some viewers, even if the jokes grow old.

Admittedly, I’ve never seen any of Burr’s standup comedies, but a quick search on the acclaimed comedian reveals that he often refers to himself as the loud guy at a bar. That, in combination with Rolling Stones’ description of Burr as “the undisputed heavyweight champ of rage-fueled humor” is all you need to know about his Old Dads, Burr’s directorial debut. Jack is angry at damn-near everything: His need to apologize after saying something wrong, a guy riding a scooter in the middle of the street, or his son Nate’s (Dash McCloud) principal (Rachael Harris). It’s the gag of Burr’s film as well; he’s the hot-headed angry old guy who’s mad at the changing times. It’s clear who Burr aims to target with this film as this old-school thinking is tired and unfunny, but it gets to be downright exhausting after the first few jokes.

Bill Burr in Old Dads

Speaking of these jokes, it almost feels as if Old Dads was written for the people who want to be offensive in the name of “kidding around.” The central character fires the typical gags at any and all groups (except the main character’s group of course) but gets upset when he’s corrected on them. In hindsight, the script isn’t actually that bad and only contains few moments that could be deemed cringe-worthy. But when the follow-up to these occurrences are other characters explaining why these jokes aren’t okay, it’s just silly and ultimately feels like a waste of runtime in the name of educating its audience.

But Burr’s first time in the director’s chair isn’t all over-the-top anger and ridiculousness. Jack’s friendship with Connor and Mike ultimately makes the movie. Surprisingly, Burr’s script, which he wrote with Ben Tishler, provides equal opportunity for Cannavale and Woodbine to shine. The trio possess great onscreen chemistry that is the prime reason anyone should even watch Old Dads. Had the script leaned more deeply on the relationship of the trio, more on their livelihoods, and less on the jokes Burr has clearly wanted to say aloud for a while, it could have been something special. Instead, it’s just an okay film, one with overplayed humor.

Bobby Cannavale, Bookem Woodbine, and Bill Burr in Old Dads

At its best, Old Dads is a reminder that we all have the capacity to change. But don’t expect this feature to provide even a modicum of realism when it comes to that. The characters in Burr’s comedy learn their lessons almost as fast as they get themselves into trouble, which really makes you want to roll your eyes at the moments that are supposed to be sentimental. However, it doesn’t necessarily hurt the film to a detrimental degree, especially when it was never expected to be Netflix’s best. Still, I can’t help but wonder of the opposite, where more attention and detail could be put on mid-aged men and their emotional well-beings versus one character’s hatred for, well, everything.

Ultimately, I would classify Old Dads as a comedy that is certainly an acquired taste. It didn’t get many laughs out of me, but that’s mostly because you hear the same ones too often, or because they’re constantly explained to you right after. The film is great when the focus is on Jack, Connor, and Mike’s friendship especially with the acting trio’s awesome chemistry. But these moments are often overstuffed with the same problems that prevent the film from being great. It isn’t the worst directorial debut by any means of the phrase, but Burr’s raunchy comedy fails to say something meaningful. Instead, it underwhelms.

Old Dads is currently streaming on Netflix. The film is 102 minutes long and rated R for sexual material, nudity, brief drug use, and pervasive language.