Daddy Day Camp

Daddy Day Camp
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Fred Savage
Screenplay by	Geoff Rodkey J. David Stem David N. Weiss
Story by	Geoff Rodkey Joel Cohen Alec Sokolow
Based on	Characters by Geoff Rodkey
Produced by	William Sherak Jason Shuman
Starring	Cuba Gooding Jr. Lochlyn Munro Richard Gant Tamala Jones Paul Rae Brian Doyle-Murray
Cinematography	Geno Salvatori
Edited by	Michel Aller
Music by	Jim Dooley
Production companies	TriStar Pictures Revolution Studios Davis Entertainment
Distributed by	Sony Pictures Releasing
Release date	August 8, 2007 (2007-08-08)
Running time	89 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$6 million
Box office	$18.2 million

Daddy Day Camp (also known as Daddy Day Care 2) is a 2007 American children's comedy film directed by Fred Savage in his feature film directorial debut. The film stars Cuba Gooding Jr., with a supporting cast of Lochlyn Munro, Richard Gant, Tamala Jones, Paul Rae, and Brian Doyle-Murray. It is the second installment in the Daddy Day Care film series, and Gooding's last widely released film before he shifted to direct-to-video films for five years until 2012.

The film was produced by Revolution Studios and released by TriStar Pictures, unlike its predecessor, which was distributed by Columbia Pictures. The film was theatrically released in the United States on August 8, 2007, and was panned by film critics. It has a 1% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and is considered to be one of the worst sequels ever produced. As of 2024, it is the only film directed by Fred Savage.

Plot

Charlie and Phil take their kids, Max and Ben, to Camp Driftwood for the summer, a camp where they attended as kids in 1977. Once there, they discover that Driftwood is now falling to ruins and also no longer a kindhearted campsite. To save the site, Charlie and Phil buy a partnership from the younger man who ran it when they were children, after the older partner and the original counselor run off on vacation, save for bus driver Dale, after spending thirty years running the camp without a vacation.

Lance Warner, Charlie's childhood rival, now runs the luxurious rival camp Canola, has a son named Bobby J (although he denies it), and is eager to buy Driftwood and tear it down. He challenges Driftwood to the upcoming Camp Olympiad, but Charlie refuses, saying he wants nothing more to do with it after losing to Lance when they were kids. The first day of camp turns out to be a disaster involving a skunk caused by Max and an explosion when Phil dropped a match in the bathroom when the light there went out.

As a result, most parents pull their kids from the camp and request refunds, but Charlie and Phil have already spent all the money on repairs, leaving Driftwood with only 7 campers instead of the original 35, and in need of financial aid. Charlie reluctantly calls his military father, Colonel Buck Hinton, for help to whip the kids into shape since they have problems following orders. The next day, Driftwood is raided by Canola, which was joined by the twenty-eight campers who left Driftwood, and they steal the Driftwood flag. Buck arrives and starts training the campers easily until Canola raids them again and teases him. Frustrated, Buck chooses to get back on Lance and helps Driftwood recover the flag.

Lance appears and taunts Charlie over his teaching style when he remembers him from the Olympiad they competed in as kids. Charlie responds by accepting the challenge to the Camp Olympiad, so the kids start training for it. While training, the kids admire Buck because of his military ways and support, but Charlie disapproves, not wanting the kids to become like Buck. Charlie believes that Buck only cares about toughness and that Charlie was a disappointment to him. Charlie starts to regret his decision to call Buck when Max flees to the woods after Lance and some of his fellow campmates tease him about his father's over-protectiveness because Buck told him that he became 'tough' when he ran off to the woods. They find Ben, and Charlie later complains to Phil about Buck, who overhears them and leaves camp.

On the day of the Olympiad, the others find out that Buck has left. Seeing all the kids discouraged, Charlie looks for Buck and brings him back, resolving his problems with him in the process. When they return, the kids report that they found out that Canola cheated in the Olympiad; this is especially possible when it is revealed that Lance won the 1977 Olympiad. Buck formulates a plan to win against Canola by outsmarting them. After outmatching Canola through to the finals, Driftwood is set for the baton relay: with campmate Mullet Head doing the climbing course and Max doing the sprint - against Bobby J. Mullet Head eventually injures his ankle from falling in the three-legged race, so Charlie lets Ben do the climbing course instead, as Ben also knows how to climb by instinct. Ben falls, but his campmates encourage him to keep going and Becca even shows everyone that Lance greased the wall, corroborating the allegations of cheating; Lance had in fact been doing it for years. Ben uses the tree next to the wall with enough time left to hit the bell, thus giving Driftwood the win and proving himself to his father.

Lance reprimands his son for costing their camp the competition; insulted, as well being fed up with Lance's abuse, Bobby J turns against Lance by talking back and kicking him, making Lance stumble backward into the wall's supports and causing the wall to collapse on top of a trophy display, smashing all the trophies that Canola ever won. Lance breaks down crying. With Driftwood's victory in the bag, the parents who pulled their kids from Driftwood and those who sent their kids to Canola originally decide that Driftwood might set the best example for their kids after all and request permission to send them there, thus saving it from foreclosure. The current Driftwood campers head to get their trophy.

Cast

• Cuba Gooding Jr. as Charlie Hinton, the co-owner of Daddy Day Care and Daddy Day Camp and teacher. He was played by Eddie Murphy in the original film.
• Lochlyn Munro as Lance Warner, Charlie's childhood enemy, and the arrogant and hypocritical owner of the rival camp Canola.
• Richard Gant as Col. Buck Hinton, Charlie's estranged father. He is a military officer who takes army tasks very seriously, but he displays a soft spot for his grandson, Ben, as well as the other campers.
• Paul Rae as Phil Ryerson, co-owner of Daddy Day Care and Daddy Day Camp, Charlie's best friend. He was played by Jeff Garlin in the original film.
• Tamala Jones as Kim Hinton, Charlie's wife.
• Josh McLerran as Dale, an oafish young counselor at Camp Driftwood and the driver for the camp's bus. He is a replacement for the character "Marvin", who was played by Steve Zahn in the original film.
• Spencir Bridges as Ben Hinton, Charlie's son, Becca and Max's best friend, and a student at Daddy Day Camp.
• Brian Doyle-Murray as "Uncle" Morty, former owner of Camp Driftwood.
• Dallin Boyce as Max Ryerson, Phil's son and Becca and Ben's best friend and a student at Daddy Day Camp.
• Telise Galanis as Juliette, one of the campers whom Robert likes.
• Molly Jepson as Becca, a smart girl, Max and Ben's best friend from when they first met in Daddy Day Care four years ago, and a student at Daddy Day Camp.
• Sean Patrick Flaherty as Robert "Bobby" Jefferson Warner, Lance's bratty, brainless and equally arrogant son, whom he denies having since he hates kids.
• Taggart Hurtubise as Carl, the more independent six-year-old brother of Robert.
• Tad D'Agostino as Robert, a shy, nerdy, and socially awkward boy who falls for Juliette.
• Tyger Rawlings as Billy, a heavyweight bully, who likes to make other people bleed.
• Talon G. Ackerman as Jack Mayhoffer, a nerdy boy (and presumably, the youngest of all the campers). He has a very weak stomach and vomits easily.
• Zachary Allen as Mullet Head, a rebellious but athletic boy with a mullet hairdo.
• Jennifer Lyon as Mrs. Simmons

Production

In August 2003, soon after the release of Daddy Day Care, Murphy was lured into making a sequel, although he hadn't signed up for the film.

Reception

Box office

Daddy Day Camp grossed $13.2 million in the United States and Canada, and $4.9 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $18.2 million.

On opening day Daddy Day Camp grossed $773,706, and grossed $3,402,678 on opening weekend on over 2,000 screens, coming in 9th place. It went on to gross $18.2 million worldwide making it a modest box office success.

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes Daddy Day Camp holds an approval rating of 1% based on 79 reviews, with an average rating of 2.28/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "A mirthless, fairly desperate family film, Daddy Day Camp relies too heavily on bodily functions for comedic effect, resulting in plenty of cheap gags, but no laughs." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 13 out of 100, based on 19 critics, indicating "overwhelming dislike".

Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale. Nathan Rabin from The A.V. Club gave the film a rare "F" grade.

Accolades

Award	Category	Subject	Result
Golden Raspberry Awards	Worst Actor	Cuba Gooding Jr.	Nominated
	Worst Screenplay	Geoff Rodkey	Nominated
		J. David Stem	Nominated
		David N. Weiss	Nominated
	Worst Picture	William Sherak	Nominated
		Jason Shuman	Nominated
	Worst Director	Fred Savage	Nominated
	Worst Prequel or Sequel		Won

Home media

Daddy Day Camp was released on DVD on January 29, 2008 by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

External links

• Daddy Day Camp at IMDb
• Daddy Day Camp at Rotten Tomatoes
• Daddy Day Camp at Box Office Mojo