Daddy Issues (2018)

User Review

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  ScreenZealots

  4 / 10

  The female-driven comedy “Daddy Issues” seems to have omitted the most important ingredient that makes the genre work: interesting characters. This dull movie (available now on VOD) is a string of tedious mumblecore style situations, albeit with a tad more polish from director Laura Holliday.
  
  Twentysomething Henri (Kimberley Datnow) is a struggling stand-up comic who works the clubs in London. When her emotionally distant father dies and leaves her his company, Henri must move to Los Angeles to take over the family business. She was never good enough for her dad, so Henri tries her best to fit the mold of his posthumous career preference for his daughter. The problem is that she’s not so willing to grow up.
  
  That’s only a small part of what makes Henri so annoying. She struggles to live up to expectations that, quite frankly, weren’t set that high to begin with. She wants to continue her comic routine, but she’s not funny (and it’s unclear if she is supposed to be funny). She’s not taken seriously at her dad’s office, and she’s super bummed about it.
  
  A large chunk of the movie focuses on the young woman’s struggles in the dating world, with a series of awful blind dates and brief, second-rate relationships, as she chases the approval of different men. This, of course, all circles back to her disappointed father.
  
  Datnow plays Henri as a normal “everygirl” who is facing the same problems most aimless Millennials must also confront at some point in their maturation process. She never really becomes older and wiser, but she does take steps toward self-acceptance and breaking her bad habits. I’m sure the younger generation will laugh at the narrow scope observational humor about life in Los Angeles, but the film doesn’t have a whole lot to say. It’s not universally relatable.
  
  I found “Daddy Issues” more annoying than entertaining, and nobody wants to spend their time dealing with that.
  
  BY: LOUISA MOORE / SCREEN ZEALOTS

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