As Christmas quickly approaches, Hollywood is beginning to capitalize on the holiday in their films. Daddy’s Home 2 is not only capitalizing on people’s joy for Christmas but also continuing the story of Dusty and Brad, played by Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg.

The movie picks up after the events of the 1st film, and now Brad and Dusty are being co-dads to Megan and Dylan while Dusty tries to connect with his step-daughter Adrianna. The dads then come up with an idea to have a joint Christmas with both families, but that becomes complicated as Dusty’s absent and womanizing father Kurt, played by Mel Gibson, joins the family celebration as well as Brad’s dad Don, played by John Lithgow. The result is chaos.

The movie is hilarious, and the cast is what makes the film so funny because Ferrell and Wahlberg have good chemistry. The comedy is elevated because they are polar opposites, making situations funny including a scene involving a manger scene and a snowball fight.

The rest of the cast also shines with Gibson and Lithgow being two of the best actors in the entire film. The audience gets to see how the granddads behave and how much they affected Dusty and Brad, with Don being a very nurturing and caring dad and Kurt being very demanding and very unloving. The hilarity ensues because, like Ferrell and Wahlberg, Lithgow and Gibson are great foils not only to each other but also to their film sons.

All of the actors balance comedy with some emotion, and the best example of that is a scene in an improv comedy club where we get to see Lithgow go from goofy grandpa to a more depressed and sad character. Gibson also has a scene with Wahlberg that allows the audience to see just how much of a strain their relationship has and why Gibson even visited after not coming for many years.

One actor who comes out of left field and gives one of the funniest performances is WWE wrestler John Cena, playing Adrianna’s dad Roger. The wrestler isn’t someone you would expect to be good at comedy, but Cena is another great foil for all the actors. A scene using the song “Feed The World” is great with Cena’s involvement, and I hope Cena will do more comedies in the future because he is a very funny actor.

The only problem I have with the movie is that some of the jokes fall flat, and some of the gags aren’t as funny as you would expect.  Scenes such as Wahlberg and Gibson fighting and a hunting scene are both scenes that could be hilarious but aren’t the best.

Even if it isn’t as strong as Ferrell and Wahlberg’s film The Other Guys, Daddy’s Home 2 is still a very funny film. The actors are all witty and funny, and while some jokes don’t hit exactly right, it will still make you laugh in the theater. This film will definitely be in a list of movies I will watch around Christmas with others such as National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and Home Alone.

I give Daddy’s Home 2 an 8.5 out of 10.