Daddy Day Care

When they are downsized out of their jobs, two men (Eddie Murphy and Jeff Garlin) open a preschool, exposing Murphy’s home to an onslaught of adorable little tykes and exposing themselves to the vengeful ire of a snooty competitor at a trendy “academy” (Anjelica Huston). Geoff Rodkey’s script plays like a failed third-rate sitcom, the kind in which the kids are lovable and the father is a dope; plot threads don’t match up, and the whole thing makes little dramatic or psychological sense. Director Steve Carr’s chief strategy is to cut away to the kids doing something cute or naughty—and preferably both—whenever a gag fizzles. But the strategy fails because every single gag fizzles—even the ones in the obligatory outtakes under the end credits.