A few weeks back, I reviewed the charming French-Canadian comedy Starbuck for the site, knowing at the time that writer-director Ken Scott’s crowd-pleaser was heading to Remake City with Vince Vaughn in the lead. I mentioned in the review that Vaughn should have a field day playing a loveable loser who learns that he has fathered 533 children. The new trailer for Delivery Man -- a new title adopted by the remake – convinces me he was the right choice for the American version. Check it out above, from a YouTube page for the upcoming movie.
Vaughn will play David, a commitment-phobe who can’t make a relationship with the gorgeous Cobie Smulders (How I Met Your Mother) work. Pretty much everything David touches turns to mediocrity. And yet, his world is turned on its ear when he learns that a mistake at a sperm bank has allowed his long-ago donation to create 533 offspring. Now, faced with a lawsuit filed by the adults who want to know their birth father, David embarks on a mission to help his “kids” as a Guardian Angel … and maybe save his own life, in the process.
The new trailer’s different, and more earnest, then the quick teaser that ran a few weeks ago, which plays off the inherent humor of the situation (and basically just gives Vaughn a solid reaction shot to the life-altering news).
But Scott’s original film has a lot more heart than the one-note joke of the premise, and Starbuck went a long way toward helping us believe that David would want to get involved with his new, extended family … and that they’d want to get to know him.
Why do I think Delivery Man will work? Because Scott’s back in the saddle for the American remake, essentially giving him a second chance to tell a story that he told very well the first time around. And while Vaughn wasn’t exactly born to play this part, he always has maintained a gentle sweetness behind his sarcasm that will help him to sell the emotions of Delivery Man as the story progresses. He’s more believable in a role like this than, say, Jason Bateman or Charlie Day.
Delivery Man has the potential to be a huge holiday hit, rolling into theaters on Nov. 22 and meant to be a Thanksgiving option for the whole family. So far, we have one official image for Delivery Man. Could a poster follow shortly after?
