Comedian Bill Burr has crossed a long way by understanding the power of a good rant. He recently found success applying persona to fictional characters, in films like The King of Staten Island. Now he is back with his directorial debut: “Old Dads” on Netflix in which Bill portrays an angry man whose anger threatens his family life.
Jack Kelly aka Bill Burr enjoys being a father to his young son but unfortunately, he often finds himself at odds with thin-skinned people in his life. Especially, he has problems with Dr. Lois Schmieckel-Turne (Rachael Harris), the obnoxious principal of his son’s school.
Jack’s frustration reached its peak when he called Dr. Lois a “stumpy c**t”.” But for the improvement of his son’s life, Jack must curb his anger. He took help from his friends and co-founders of the company Connor (Bobby Cannavale) and Mike (Bokeem Woodbine), otherwise he had to drive away his wife and son away.
Old Dads definitely turned Burr from a stand-up comedian to an aggressive dad. While Burr is a boiling cauldron of grievances, Bobby is a cool character, and Woodbine lives a carefully curated life that is now under threat. Things became worse for the trio when they decided to exercise free speech by spewing misogynist hate.
Their friendship started to tear apart and their wives also began to fight with them. Their wives are either cold, needy or very intimidating. As Burr is portrayed as an anti-Gen-Z social warrior, he often has a fight with his pregnant wife Leah (Katie Aselton).
It would be easier to swallow if the film was a little bit funnier but the serious and angry character didn’t suit Burr at all. All the characters in the film are very thinly-sketched and sometimes you cannot find a correlation between them. It is an R-rated movie currently available on Netflix from October 20, 2023.
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