Delivery Man: Movie Review

Delivery Man: Movie Review

Cast: Vince Vaughn, Chris Pratt, Cobie Smulders
Director: Ken Scott

A remake of a 2011 French-Canadian film called Starbuck, Delivery Man is a somewhat revelation when it comes to its leading man.

That leading man is Vince Vaughn and in this more-or-less shot-for-shot remake of the original (under the helmship of the original director Scott). Vaughn is David Wozniak, a meat delivery man, whose heart is in the right place but who can't seem to find the right time to do the right thing.

He discovers his girlfriend Emma (How I Met Your Mother's Cobie Smulders) is pregnant with their child, but due to his flakiness and the fact he's not always there, he's potentially about to be booted out of her life. Coupled with the fact he owes $80,000 to some guys who will finish him if it's not paid up, and you can see how Wozniak isn't exactly coping with the pressures of life.

But things get worse for Wozniak when the fertility clinic where he prolifically donated in his youth comes to him, revealing that he fathered some 530 plus children. And a group of those are suing the clinic to discover his identity...

Suffering a crisis of identity himself, Wozniak decides to become the guardian angel in their lives rather than fully reveal who he is....

I already know what you're thinking about Delivery Man, because I was thinking it too when I saw its lead was Vince Vaughn. You're visualising a raucous, Wedding Crashers, brash boorish kind of film that makes jokes at every turn and sees Vaughn as lead prankster. And even worse, you'd be expecting an abomination of the rather impressive original Starbuck...

Well, you'd be wrong. This turn by Vince Vaughn is, for the most part, one of his best since Swingers thanks to an introspective dialled-down, slightly muted turn by the man. Wozniak is an underachiever, a brow beaten schlub whose life is lacking meaning and whose decisions are always the wrong ones. And Vaughn manages to channel all of that with a restrained, almost at times mournful, performance that has a heart and warmth that's endearing. When Wozniak tells his father he's scared he'll disappoint, there's pathos etched across Vaughn's face aplenty.

There are occasional moments when Vaughn teeters on bringing out the over-acting, but director Scott appears to reign him back in. The interactions between Wozniak and his lawyer and brow-beaten father Brett (a terribly dry Chris Pratt) produce the lion's share of the laughs as the dryly farcical moments build up.

Scott also deserves praise - the script is tight, dryly funny when it really needs to be and he's helmed a ship which doesn't feel like your typical Hollywood dramedy. It's faithful to the original - and I'm guessing Scott had a great hand in that.

All in all Delivery Man more than delivers - and it produces one of the biggest surprises of the year from Vaughn.

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