When three best friends sell their company to a millennial, they find themselves out of step and behind the times as they hilariously struggle to navigate a changing world of culture.
What We Thought:
Fans of Bill Burr will absolutely love Old Dads. It’s filled with classic Burr rants and things other people are afraid to say, but like the man himself, it also has a ton of heart. I’m not quite as old as Bill and the characters in the film, but they feel like guys I know and get themselves into situations that I completely understand.
Burr, Bokeem Woodbine and Bobby Cannavale play friends who sell their throwback uniform company to the younger generation who instantly want to change it into the latest social media/lifestyle brand. They have no idea what their new boss is even talking about and on top of it all each have issues in their personal lives they are dealing with. If you’re closer to midlife crisis age than your college years, you know these guys, or worse, are these guys.
If you’re familiar with Burr’s stand-up then you know he says whatever is on his mind and his character is a reflection of that. He clashes with the woman (the criminally underrated Rachael Harris) who can make or break where his child goes to school next and who all the other parents bow down to. The film is set around Los Angeles and when you think of parents in that area, these characters fit the bill. You can’t say bad words around them. They are 100% offended by everything and one even compares a nasty word said about women to a racial slur used for centuries towards African-Americans. Of course Burr rips her a new one in his own personal way. I spent a few years in the Los Angeles/San Fernando Valley area, Old Dads reminded me of my time there and these ridiculous people.
But the film isn’t just the Bill Burr show. Bokeem Woodbine and Bobby Cannavale also get huge laughs. Woodbine is the divorced dad whose kids are older, but gets surprising news from his much younger girlfriend. Between losing his job and the life changing news, it’s midlife crisis time getting the car of his dreams and trying to figure out what to do next. Cannavale desperately wants to be cool with the younger generation and painfully is not. His domineering wife controls everything and he is crying out for older, better times. I have no idea if the three leads knew each other prior to the movie, but they come across as genuine friends and have great chemistry together. A scene later in the movie is reminiscent of The Hangover and the chaos those friends found themselves in, but also like that movie, you believe these men are friends and are there for each other no matter what.
If you are the easily offended type or use terms like trigger warning, Old Dads is not for you. If you pine for the days when everything wasn’t recorded and people still had senses of humor, you’ll love it. It might be my favorite comedy of the year so far. Burr, Woodbine and Cannavale are fantastic together and it’s a nice throwback to when comedy pushed the envelope and you weren’t afraid of how people felt. If you like comedies based on friendship (The Hangover, Bad Moms, Tag), you’ll dig it especially if you like Bill Burr.
The Nerds Templar 