Vince Vaughn has made quite a nice living for himself playing the lovable loser with a heart of gold. And his wry, dead-pan wit has carried more movies than it has any right to. (The god-awful The Dilemma is one of the few exceptions).
He’s back at it again in Delivery Man, a cute (dare I say “feel good”?) movie about a lovable loser who discovers that his long-ago sperm donor days paid off in a big way; he’s the (anonymous) biological father of 533 children. And a group of 142 are suing to find out his identity.
As luck would have it, David (Vaughn) has a ton on his plate already. He’s a failure at the family meat delivery business, his girlfriend Emma (Cobie Smulders) is tired of his irresponsibility (and she’s pregnant), and David also owes $80,000 to some particularly unsavory characters.
When the fertility clinic gives him the “bountiful” news, David secretly goes to see his some of his offspring and discovers that he can be a pretty decent anonymous guardian angel when he puts his mind to it. Not only does David save one from a heroin overdose, he helps another get a dream job, and he even gives some construction workers a talking-to when they cat call one of his daughters.
Delivery Man may bill itself as a comedy (or you might expect it, considering Vaughn’s presence), but there are only a few chuckles to be had along the way, and most of them are seen in the movie’s trailer. Instead, we get an often-sappy but generally amiable film that focuses on family and love and responsibility. It’s not your typical Vince Vaughn fare, I know, but it turns out the guy actually has some talent when he gets a chance to show some range.
Director and writer Ken Scott (remaking his own 2011 French comedy Starbuck) keeps things moving along nicely, and even though the story is just a wee bit too predictable (you may have trouble getting out of the theater because of the giant ribbon Delivery Man gets tied up with), there’s enough heart on display to consider it a success.
3/5 stars