Delivery Man

Whenever I see a commercial comedy trailer at the multiplex, my first reaction is to cringe, because of the fear of a mediocre film. As the adage goes, history does repeat itself, however, when I finally went to see "Delivery Man", I definitely got a little more than the usual schtick, probably for the reason it being a comedy/drama combination.

Amiable underachiever David Wozniak (Vince Vaughn) drives a delivery truck for his family's company and is content with a life of mediocrity. However, when he learns that he is the biological father of more than 500 offspring and many are suing the fertility clinic where he sold his sperm for much needed cash 20 years ago, so as to learn his identity, he decides to hold himself accountable for his actions. Through his buddy and attorney Brett (Chris Pratt), he finds some of his progeny and attempts to be involved in their lives; however, when David's girlfriend, Emma (Cobie Smulders) announce her pregnancy to him, she continues to keep her expectations low because of David's past attribute of being unreliable.

Others to round out the cast are Andrzej Blumenfeld as Mikolaj, David's dad, Simon Delaney as Victor, brother of David's, Bobby Moynihan as Aleksy, another brother of David's, Dave Patten as Adam, Adam Chanler-Berat as Viggo, Britt Robertson as Kristen, Jack Reynor as Josh, Amos VanderPoel as Taylor, Matthew Daddario as Channing, Jessica Williams as African American Spa Worker, Leslie Ann Glossner as Young Romantic Girl, and Derrick Arthur as Young Boozer.

This was directed with a good dose of realism and pathos by Ken Scott ("Sticky Fingers" '09, "Starbuck" '11). This wasn't the typical prat-fall physical comedy we see a fair deal from Vaughn such as in "The Internship" earlier this year. Even though Scott is new to feature film directing, I think he's found his niche. This was touchingly written by Scott based on the original screenplay, "Starbuck" by Scott and Martin Petit. I personally believe that this film succeeded because there was some drama in it, which gave it that 'heart' it probably wouldn't have had if it was a straight out comedy. There were some areas of script that needed polish, but this definitely had you laughing and tearful in the same scene, which happens so often in actual life.

Trust me, the trailer doesn't sell this film, because I almost didn't bother with this by solely viewing the trailer. But after seeing this, it was the the film I was hoping it would be, assuming it would be like all the rest of the mediocre comedies out there.

Out of 4 Stars: 3                         Rated: PG-13                      105mins.