Brad (Will Ferrell) and Dusty (Mark Wahlberg) are now the best of friends, co-parenting their kids together. Sara (Linda Cardellini) is leery of exotic Karen (Alessandra Ambrosio) and the influence of Karen's spoiled daughter Adrianna over her daughter Megan. When Megan complains about splitting time in two homes over Christmas, the dads decide to spend the holidays together at a beautiful cabin set up by Kurt. Kurt (Mel Gibson) is Dusty's machismo womanizing absentee dad and Don (John Lithgow) is Brad's touchy kissy feely dad. Dylan has a crush on a girl in the neighboring cabin and is teased by Adrianna and Megan. When Dusty angers Brad, Brad invites Adrianna's daddy Roger (John Cena) to the cabin.

The first movie is not my favorite comedy. There are problems with it but I grew to like the pairing of Ferrell and Wahlberg. This one basically adds three more dads but it only really needs two. It's not who you think. It only needs Gibson and Cena. Lithgow is awkward. I did not find his character to be funny or even necessary. In fact, it may be better for Brad's mother to show up instead which would ignite a funny romance with Kurt. That would be a much more interesting story with more potential. Cena needs to show sooner so that his chemistry with the cast can develop. I don't really like Gibson any more as an actor but at least, he fits this role. There are some interesting and even slightly funny moments but overall, this is a weak comedy. Dylan's crush is symptomatic of this movie. It has good potential in the beginning but at the end, it's handled badly which deprives the film of any real humor.

The daddy rivalry that made the first film funny is over as we have moved on to co-dads. They decide to spend Christmas together as a single family than as two families and then they get news the grand dads are coming for Christmas, most likely because Sean Anders scripted this film in the cubicle next to "Bad Mom's Christmas." Mel Gibson plays Mark Wahlberg's father and it was as bad as it sounds. John Lithgow is Will Ferrell's father, a polar opposite of Mel Gibson.

The writers quickly ran out of formula humor for this group and felt they needed to bring in John Cena to place Wahlberg in Will Ferrell's position, something that worked out to be far less funny than it sounds. Gibson badgering his son and their bad relationship took up the bulk of the film.

Guide: No F-words, sex, or nudity.

Lots of stupid parts, but surprisingly funny. much more enjoyable than the first. made me laugh a lot (1 viewing)