FILM REVIEW: DELIVERY MAN (12A)

You’ve probably watched the trailer to Delivery Man and thought, ‘That looks familiar’.

A French-Canadian film called Starbuck was released in 2011 – written and directed by Ken Scott. Delivery Man is the Hollywood makeover of that film, this time starring the fast talking man-child Vince Vaughn.

The storyline of the two films are the same; David Wozniak (Vaughn) is a meat truck driver, who seems to disappoint everyone around him. With David being the type of guy that owes gangsters $80,000, it’s not surprising that his girlfriend Emma (Cobie Smulders) fears what type of father he’ll be to their unborn child.

It turns out that David is already a dad. He’s told that after making multiple sperm donations in his 20s (in exchange for cash) his ‘super’ sperm impregnated a lot of women… 533 to be precise. To make things worse, a majority of his children are suing to overturn the confidentiality agreement.

David is given a list of the 142 children wanting to know his identity by his lawyer and best friend, Brett (Chris Pratt). Despite Brett’s pleas for him not to, David decides to secretly visit each child to see if he can improve their lives –be their ‘Guardian Angel’ as he puts it.

Does David’s identity become revealed to the children? Head to the Showcase Cinema to find out.

A special mention must be given to Chris Pratt. The scenes involving him and his own kids provide some of the biggest laughs throughout the film. Pratt is also the perfect casting choice for Vaughn’s best friend – the pair have genuine onscreen chemistry.

What may surprise you here is that this is a deep and serious movie. The trailer and the presence of Vaughn would lead you to believe that Delivery Man is a broad comedy, when actually it’s much more of a drama with a few funny moments thrown in. This is the more serious side of Vaughn that we haven’t seen since his appearances in Psycho and The Cell. The filmmakers have clearly focused on stimulating the audiences tear ducts rather than their funny bones.

If you head to the cinema expecting a laugh out loud comedy, you’ll leave disappointed. Prepare yourself for a powerful and poignant flick, and you might just leave satisfied.

Catch The Delivery Man (and much more) now at Showcase, Peterborough. For show times visit www.showcasecinemas.co.uk and follow them on Twitter.

Mikey Clarke

Cast: Vince Vaughn, Chris Pratt, CobieSmulders

Running Time: 104 mins

Writer/Director: Ken Scott [youtube id=”yGAktL45XNQ” width=”600″ height=”350″]