Movie Review: Daddy Daughter Trip (2021) seen on DVD

Comedy: some scenes may be unsuitable for young children; mature themes

The film follows Larry, (played by Rob Schneider,) a struggling inventor who attempts to give his daughter a spring break trip to remember despite his lack of money after his daughter becomes jealous of her classmates in school who have plans to go to an expensive water park during spring break.

Throughout the film, Larry is shown to be depressed after a number of his inventions failed to generate the money he originally thought it would due to a lack of interest in people who look to use his product. After Larry’s household expenses become too much for him and his wife, (played by Jackie Sandler,) to handle, he realizes he must break a prior promise to his daughter in which he told her they would plan to go to a water park during that year’s spring break. After this is shown to upset her, Larry resolves to go through with his promise despite knowing it will be nowhere near as special or as fun as if he had money to do it.

With this in mind, Larry hits the road with his daughter the next morning and tries to follow through with each of his prior promises, only to have each of them be much less than anticipated as they happen. He finds himself going to places which would mirror the fun of the promised trip only for his daughter to catch on quickly and realize that they’re not actually at the location itself. He first goes to a gas station where he shows his lack of proper money by paying for his gas in quarters, in the process buying a car wash ticket with which he attempts to create the image of being at the water park by leaving the window open while going through this getting soaked in the process. His daughter however is less than enthusiastic when she realizes where they are. Larry assures her that the rest of the trip will be fun.

Larry’s financial problems continue throughout the film with him making every attempt to give his daughter what she wants only to have her show a lack of interest. After his wife takes notice of this, she suggests that the trip should be finished and that he should just tell his daughter the truth about not being able to give his daughter the trip. Larry is determined to prove her wrong and continues to go to various places only to have the same process repeat itself, with Larry attempting to create the illusion of being at the fun place itself while his daughter is shown to be bored. This comes to a stop when Larry takes his daughter to a drive in movie where they are forced to park in a parking lot next to the drive in, (but still where they are able to see the screen,) as he is unable to afford to actually go in. Larry and his daughter get out of the car and attempt to watch the movie despite not having the best view of the screen. At this point, Larry’s daughter asks to be brought home, to his dismay as he thought they were having a good time.

The ending of the movie sees Larry’s invention along with his daughter’s novel that she wrote, finally take off as Larry and his daughter are rich by the end of the film. They are shown to be signing autographs of the book as the credits roll.

For various reasons, I did not like this movie. The main reason is because that Larry’s actions throughout the film, (despite them being well intentioned,) remind me of a certain someone in my life who I no longer associate with. This person has exhibited those traits in real life and didn’t need Rob Schneider to play the character. Let’s face it, Rob Schneider’s character in this movie plays a loser just like this person is in real life. They do have something in common however. Each of them, (Rob Schneider and this person,) make the huge mistake of not giving in and admitting when their not able to do something in the process annoying the people around them with the thought that even though they have nothing, people will still respect them. Well, the person in question is my biological father who shall remain nameless and for years, he used to try a be a good father by buying me junk food all of the time, taking me for car rides to stupid places that he wanted to go such as car dealerships and the airport as he likes to watch the planes land. He’s nothing but a fat loser who I’m embarrassed to call my father. He was never there for me and I don’t even want to disclose the real reason why everybody hates him. I will say this though. The biggest mistake I have made in my life is not listening to mom when she told me throughout the years that he’s a loser, that I should have nothing to do with him. Well, let me be honest about something. Things have changed now. I’m a grown up and I realize that mom has always been there for me when he never has and as it stands now, he could be dead for all we know and it wouldn’t bother me one bit. I recently became an uncle and I don’t want him having anything to do with him and I’m sure my brother doesn’t either. He’s just a no good sorry pathetic excuse for a human being and I will never call him dad again. He keeps calling me and asking how I am to which I reply that he should f–k off and ultimately hang up on him. Now you may be wondering what this has to do with the movie. Well, it’s the perfect representation of Rob Schneider’s character as he exhibits the same traits as my stupid head father, (making quarters seem like their legitimate money, dragging me to places that he wants to go and making it seem fun, resolving to have the fun aspect of the trip being time spent with him, and let’s not forget the most important thing of all, mooching off others,) ETC. All of these examples that Rob Schneider did in this film are things my father used to do with me and man I hated it. Maybe this is the reason why I hate this movie so much…..Rob Schneider reminds me of that piece of shit human being who I hate to say it….is my father. There is one important difference though. Rob Schneider is paid to play that part in the movie. He is not like that in real life and trust me when I say that his kids must really respect him in real life….at least much more than I respected my father. While he is just acting, my father will always be a loser no matter how hard he tries.

On a different note, I actually started to dislike Rob Schneider many years before seeing this movie owing to his poor choice of women in the film “Grown ups.” It made me absolutely sick to see him make out with that old bag whom everybody thought was his mother at the beginning of the film. As I was disgusted with this, I began to dislike Rob Schneider and this movie only forced me to like him less.

Unfortunately the only stand out points from this film are the negative ones, (with the most obvious being mentioned above, the fact that Rob Schneider acts like my loser of a father.) However, the movie also showcases certain aspects of poverty as in one scene, Larry is shown to be in danger of losing his house due to his failure to make payments on it as well as only being able to afford the bare minimum for his daughter while her classmates’ parents are able to afford more for them. I notice in the film that he also tries to force his daughter to be happy with what she is given despite it being much less than what everybody else is given. I hate to sound like a broken record but this is another thing that my f—-n father did for me, (buying me cheap ass things and junk food,) and saying he is good to me. Well there are a lot of people who do much more for me and those are the people I love and respect, not a loser like him.

I would not recommend this movie. Having said that, I have come up with an alternate title for it. If we could remove the little girl and put me in her place and maybe we could still have Rob Schneider play this role, it could be called:

“How not to be a father: The Jeff Landry story.” The plot would be the exact same as it was in this movie but because Rob Schneider’s antics in this movie mirrored that of my a hole father, it could be a biography on my relationship with him. Let’s be honest though….nobody would pay their money to watch that. I guess the next best thing is to stick with this. The fact is that this movie is not far off from the BS I had to endure as his son growing up anyway.

Movie rating: 0 out of 10