Delivery ManVince Vaughn, Chris Pratt, Cobie Smulders. Directed by Ken Scott. Rated PG-13. Opens Friday.
French-Canadian filmmaker Ken Scott directs the American remake of his own R-rated film Starbuck, which opened in this country just a few months back. Delivery Man has been awarded a PG-13 rating, indicating that it has been at least a little neutered.
Vince Vaughn stars as David Wozniak, who, in the early 1990s, donated sperm more than 600 times, resulting in 533 children, 142 of whom have initiated a lawsuit to find the identity of their biological dad. The flat, scrubbed-looking film barely does anything with this premise.
The children are all casting-call types, and they all wind up in a huge “Kumbaya” love-fest. To make up for it, Scott and co-writer Martin Petit are forced to cook up a stupid, unexplained subplot about David owing money to lethal loan sharks, as well as a new pregnancy. However, Chris Pratt, in the “best friend” role, provides the movie’s slyest line readings—and its only laughs.