“Delivery Man” Isn’t Up to Par With Original Version

PHOTOS COURTESY OF CARAMEL FILM AND TOUCHSTONE PICTURES

“Delivery Man”

The plot is simple and comedic. David Wozniack, a now middle- aged man has to face some financial choices he made in his early twenties when donating 693 times to a sperm collector under the alias of “Starbuck,” consequently resulting in 533 children coming into the world. And all this comes crashing down on him in the midst of a severe personal debt crisis. The movie is a haphazard heap of events that David encounters along his path to “finding order” in choosing to become a caretaker of sorts for the 142 now sueing the fertility clinic’s anononymity clause to know their father’s identity. Vince Vaughn as a straight-man interpretation of David is funny, if at times a little awkward and mis- placed. The comedic timing is charming, yet a little backwards. The children are (variety), if not a little cliché. The movie feels tired, like it’s been done before.

This is probably because “Delivery Man” is a remake of “Starbuck,” the 2011 French-Canadian film by the same director. It’s essentially a translated line-for-line, cookie-cutter reproduction from his job at a family meat company, to his initial side-scheme pot plants, to each of his children’s occupaitions. They even stay true to the name “Wozniack”, despite the protagonist taking on an Italian-American identity in the refurbished film.

The similarities don’t stop at the plot line.The majority of the shot sequences even follow the same order as in the original, the same jokes pop up in the same spots. Maybe that’s one of “Delivery Man’s”

Problems

The jokes that were both funny and heartwarming in the original version are not executed the same way. Much of the comedic timing is a little off as the characters in the new version try to copy the acting styles of those in the former. It just doesn’t click when the character choices are plotted out rather than spontaneous and honest, throwing off the chemistry of what would potentially be a great cast, and in turn could have been a successful film.

In truth, “Delivery Man” is by no means a “bad” movie. A good idea, in fact. Just one that should have just stopped at the origi- nal and called it a day. Often when directors rework pieces of film, what results is an updated, improved model that blooms after the test-run of the original. Plots thicken, characters develop further, and in comedies punch lines are knock outs.

With a director reworking his own piece, I was excited to see what he would create after experiencing the reaction of the original firsthand. I went into the theater expecting a remodel, but instead sat through a repro- duction. To say that Ken Scott’s 2013 revision didn’t have it’s improvements though wouldn’t give justice to his few but noticeable updates.

For one, the film dropped from a more curse-laden “R” to a more family-friendly “PG-13”.

The biggest cultural shift is the past- time tranistion from soccer to basketball. Any sports-related scenes in the original (there are plenty) refer exclusively go soccer, and though the sport itself changes to basketball, the theme of using one cultur- ally cliched sport for any athletic references remains in the remake.

Chris Pratt as Wozniack’s lawyer-by-day-daddy-by-night friend, saves the com- edy aspect of the film, and proves to be the funny man of the film – a role reserved in the former version for the protagonist, Wozniack.

Wozniack’s portrayal transforms noticeably enough from a good-intending clutz to a sardonic slacker, though the audience can decide for themselves which interpretation they prefer.

The stakes are a bit higher in “Delivery Man” – – Wozniack personal debts stack up to a significant amount more, making his attempts at a for-cash counter-suit against the prosecution’s anonynimity case all that more necessitous.

Vaughn’s Wozniack is also much less hesitant to assume his self-titled part of “gaurdian angel” to his mass of newly discovered kin than the original film.

In all honesty, despite it’s dry moments and a few poorly-mislaid jokes, “Delivery Man” is a success in the sense that it fufill’s Hollywood’s aim: it presents a unique, humorous journey in a family-oriented format that comes together for a heartwarming ending even the grouchiest of movie-goers have to admire.

That being said, my advice is to skip the remake — check out the original, which is convienently on Netflix.