Rating of
2.5/4
xXx meets Mr. Mom
The M.O.W. - wrote on 08/01/08
"Shane Wolfe" (Vin Diesel) is a Navy SEAL who leads a mission to save the life of a kidnapped professor (Howard Plummer) for a reason not revealed. However, the mission is a failure when at the last moment, the professor is killed and "Wolfe" is shot.
The scientist was working on a Top Secret device, Codename: Ghost, which can disable nuclear warheads just before the rockets they are mounted on are launched. But the device's location apparently died with the professor.
When the widow of the professor (Faith Ford) is called to go out of the country to open a safety deposit box that is in her late husband's name, "Wolfe" is assigned to protect the children by his superior "Captain Bill Fawcett" (Chris Potter) -- and "Wolfe" is not happy about the assignment. He is also ordered to search the house for the device.
The children do not respect "Wolfe," who uses his military training to "babysit." He also has a problem interacting with them, and tries to put them into a military-based schedule because that is all he knows. The children are a toddler to high school age, and each have their own problems. There is also the family duck, which should have been used for more comedy than it was.
The movie does a pretty good job parodying the type of roles Diesel are better known for. It makes the action sequences pretty funny, which will make you laugh despite them being predictable. In fact, predictability is the one big weakness of this film.
Another problem with this film is that the supporting cast is barely used to their full potential that could have made the movie better. Carol Kane, who plays the children's nanny, has been known to be a lot funnier, but her character was poorly written.
The movie clings on the gross humor that kids think is hysterical. Parents will either be grossed out by these scenes, or they'll just groan because they saw the punchline coming a mile away.
Diesel is easily the best part of this film, and does a pretty good job with the physical comedy. It is obvious though that he is more comfortable with the action sequences. The children also do a good job helping the comedy where they just torture "Wolfe".
Another thing that misses the mark in the film is the budding romance between "Wolfe" and the kid's principal "Claire Fletcher" (Lauren Graham), who is a former Special Forces soldier -- who out-ranks "Wolfe." If there were more scenes where the two interacted off school grounds, this could have made their relationship on-screen much better. Also, if the change in the children from spoiled brats, to nicer kids was written better, it would have helped the story quite a bit.
Nothing truly stands out in this movie, when it comes to the visual effects after the opening sequence. The few hand-to-hand fight scenes are well choreographed, however. The car chases also could have been a little better as well.
"The Pacifier," despite the problems, is still a good family movie. The pace of the film isn't fantastic, but watching Diesel do a pretty good job in a new kind of role for him makes this enjoyable to watch.
