Why Him? – Film Review by Emily Elphinstone

Director: John Hamburg
Writers: Jonah Hill (story), John Hamburg (story)
Stars: Zoey Deutch, James Franco, Tangie Ambros, Bryan Cranston

Why Him? Is not a film with levels of subtlety; and your feelings on the creative team alone will give a clear sense of whether this is a film for you. Directed and co-written by John Hamburg (I Love You, Man , Meet the Parents), with story by Jonah Hill, produced by Ben Stiller, and starring James Franco at his most James Franco; Why Him? brings the sort of brash toilet humour that viewers will either revel in, or find utterly cringeworthy. But what it does, it does well.

The premise uses an age-old cinematic device: The culture clash between generations, as parents are introduced to their grown children’s partners. But from here, the genre is pushed to its limits, as straight-laced father Ned Fleming (a magnificently slow-burning Bryan Cranston) reluctantly meets his daughter’s foul-mouthed free spirited boyfriend Laird Mayhew (James Franco.) After an awkward encounter on Skype which is best left to the imagination; Ned, wife Barb (the spectacular Megan Mullally) and son Scotty (Griffin Gluck) travel from Michigan to Los Angeles to spend Christmas with their daughter Stephanie (Zoey Deutch), and to finally meet the boyfriend they’d never heard of. But this meeting has more than a few surprises for all, as it turns out the over-enthusiastic Laird, so eager to please that he has the Fleming family Christmas card tattooed on his back; is also the multi-millionaire owner of a famous computer gaming brand. From this point, Laird must try to win the family round, while the Flemings get to grips with not only the man himself; but also the ‘paperless’ mansion of Japanese toilets, edible soil, erotic art, and an omniscient Siri-style virtual assistant.

With a strong cast, there are moments of brilliance in this culture clash; and Franco makes the bizarre character of Laird worryingly believable, and occasionally even likeable. Cranston and Mullally are perfectly cast as the parents trying to be supportive, and Keegan-Michael Key is hilarious as the eccentric German estate manager who regularly mounts surprise Pink Panther style attacks on his employer to keep him aware. However, the predictable plot loses energy by stretching scenes past their most humorous; and some of the set pieces have been seen all too many times before. This certainly isn’t the sort of film that is a must see on the big screen, but like Laird’s Moose suspended in its own urine, there is something enthralling about it all the same.