The Movie Diorama I like to give modern comedies a chance, who knows I may come across the next 'Bridesmaids'. Alas, I have yet to be impressed. An old school family visit their daughter's boyfriend's abode where they uncover his successful video game business. The boyfriend is wanting to propose, so it's a case of impressing the potential father-in-law to gain his blessing. Sounds familiar right? It's a pretty tired formula that we have seen plenty of times, and far funnier in the past. Don't get me wrong, this is watchable and not terrible...it's just wasted potential. James Franco and Bryan Cranston aren't put to good use, I mean they tried and I can see that. Both of these deserve better. It's the screenplay. If a comedic screenplay is unfunny, well...it's a failure. Again, it's a comedy that believes crude profanity is the greatest current trend. Countless sex jokes, numerous "old vs new" conflicts and the unusual attachment to the word "bukake". Oh and "double dicking", Japanese spray toilets and a moose preserved in urine. If any of the above sounds funny to you, then you'll enjoy this. For me, it just doesn't work. I will give the film credit, I laughed twice. A scene involving a webcam and a visually stunning virus that looks like something straight out of Microsoft Paint. Interestingly, both these jokes are in the same scene and it was Cranston's eloquent facial reactions that made me chuckle. The narrative follows a tired formula that surprisingly seemed like it was never going to end. Nearly two hours long! Should've had twenty minutes cut atleast. 'Why Him?' didn't do anything for me. Watchable yet lacking consistent humour, which for a comedy is not ideal. Perhaps I've had the sudden realisation that modern American comedies just aren't doing it for me anymore...

rick-16339 This one makes the holiday hall of fame list. Very funny!!

Gavin Purtell 'Why Him?' is a Christmas-set 'Meet The Parents' (and is produced by Ben Stiller), from the director of 'Along Came Polly' and 'I Love You, Man', so you know what kind of humour to expect. The plot is just Stephanie (Deutch) trying to convince her parents, Ned (Cranston) & Barb (Mullally) to like her new boyfriend, Laird (Franco). It doesn't help that he's 10 years older (16 years older in real life!), a billionaire and has no filter!Franco plays his usual loveable doofus, Cranston is great as the straight-man with some moments of madness, but Deutch, Mullally, Cedric The Entertainer and Gluck are underutilised. Keegan-Michael Key does get plenty of chances to shine as Gustav, a German(?) "butler" who is also Laird's martial arts trainer/best friend. Kaley Cuoco also has a pretty funny cameo-type role. There's plenty of sight gags and prat-falls, and an amusing bit with a digital toilet that solves the plot at the end.There's good use of KISS - both "Rock & Roll All Nite" and the 2-3min cameo from Paul & Gene at the end! Franco pretty much steals every scene he's in, with his loveable charm and smile and goofy remarks. It's a fun film, but could be a little quicker and doesn't quite achieve greatness.

gingersnap0974 I was forced to watch this movie by my fiancé. I knew it would be bad because I check IMDb before ever investing my time in a movie. But wow it was horrible. It was way way over the top. Everything was so extreme, corny, cheesy and unrealistic. So far-fetched and everything was overdone.It was hard to sit through and I was glad when it was over.