Why Him? (2016)

Genre: Comedy

Directed by: John Hamburg

Cast: James Franco, Bryan Cranston, Zoey Deutch

Running time: 111 minutes

Ned Fleming is the CEO of a printing company going through difficult times financially. During a celebration dinner for his 55^th birthday, he gets a surprised chat via the Internet with his daughter Stephanie, a student at Stanford. During the conversation, his daughter’s boyfriend (whose existence was still unknown to the family) comes into the room and decides to moon the computer camera, to the shock of everyone. As they travel to California to see Stephanie, Ned, his wife and their son finally meet Laid Mayhew, her boyfriend, who happens to be the rich CEO of a gaming company. When the eccentric Laid asks Ned for his daughter’s hand in marriage, the father will try everything in his power to stop this planned proposal from going forward.

Why Him? is a very light and fun comedy. Many moments are quite funny, others are a little flatter. The subject matter of a father disapproving of his daughter’s choice for a boyfriend is easily relatable, though this film doesn’t add much to what has already been done. The acting is OK for the genre. Overall, this is some decent light entertainment.

Rating: «««