Delivery Man – Film Review
Director: Ken Scott
Starring: Vince Vaughn, Chris Pratt and Cobie Smulders
Release Date: Jan 10
David Wozniak (Vince Vaughn), a kind but unreliable slacker, discovers that he is the father of 533 children due to his frequent visits to a sperm bank earlier in life, under the pseudonym ‘Starbuck’.
With a collection of these kids set on finding their father’s identity, and his relationship with his girlfriend on the rocks due to her becoming pregnant, David must learn to grow up amidst his extremely unusual circumstances in Delivery Man.
Also starring Cobie Smulders and Chris Pratt, Delivery Man is a remake of the French-Canadian film Starbuck, both films being written by Martin Petit, co-written and directed by Ken Scott.
While I believe that every film should be able to stand alone, regardless of who made it, who’s in it and whatever material the film may or may not be based on or a sequel/prequel to, there are those cases where the piece is inevitably compared to its source material. Having seen both this film and the original film Starbuck, I regret to inform you, the reader, that I will be discussing Starbuck for much of this review.
But I do this with good reason! The fact of the matter is that Delivery Man is a near shot for shot and beat for beat remake of Starbuck. I’d say word for word, only this version is in English, unlike the French language original, but I can say it’s almost entirely joke for joke.
Now, it is clear that this film is not aimed at someone who has seen the original. I’m not naive as to why a film like this gets made. Basically, with the original film having a quirky and nice cheesy story, it’d be perfect to market towards a large audience, but sadly Starbuck isn’t in English, and apparently English speaking audiences hate to read subtitles (I really don’t know how accurate that is. I know I don’t mind it).
So instead of giving a big release to the original French language film (or even dubbing it which I think is at least better than a shot for shot remake) the film is remade the exact same, starring some name actors, along with one or two slightly mature moments from the original removed.
I’m cynical, I know, but I really didn’t think such a faithful remake was necessary. I felt the concept alone was the only thing that needed to be translated.
The story idea is excellent and I think it is something that could work for an American remake with new comedy scenes and its own way of telling the story.
But I have to admit, as unnecessary shot for shot, beat for beat, remakes go, Delivery Man is not at all the worst.
The only real issue is that while Starbuck is an imperfect but ultimately charming film, Delivery Man doesn’t have as much of the charm but brings along all the same imperfections.
But it’s not without its charms. The cast, overall, do manage to bring a little spark to their performances, even though their beats and even a lot of their mannerisms are rigidly the same as the ones in the original film.
And to fairly look at Delivery Man as best I can in a stand alone perspective, it is a nice and slightly heart-warming piece, it’s just that overall it feels a bit dead.
It’s really very hard to dig any deeper about this film because it so closely resembles its original, but also because Starbuck was kind of a corny superficial film to begin with.
However, it was at least its own thing and, again, it managed to charm.
I think its intended audience will probably enjoy Delivery Man. This is an audience that aren’t film buffs like myself, and are just looking for something nice and sweet to watch.
And don’t get me wrong, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that, but I also don’t think they’ll be left with anything memorable.
I do recommend watching the original film to anyone who is looking for that kind of thing, but doesn’t mind reading subtitles.
That said, if captions really bother you then Delivery Man is the film for you. It’s nice-looking, has a good cast and overall it holds together fine. It is just in no way remarkable and, while it may be unfair to criticize it for that alone, that sort of thing really bothers me.
Delivery Man is ultimately a production made to cater as an alternate version to another film. An English language version of Starbuck, it’s nice, cute and fluffy like the original, and pretty well made.
But it’s in no way special. Not bad but not great.
Score: 2.5/5
Written by Sèamus Hanly
