You may recall that last summer, I was one of 533 bloggers to share a sneak peek at the trailer for Delivery Man, which came out in cinemas in November. Once again, I am grateful for how quickly movies are released onto DVD and Blu-ray these days, because I never got a chance to watch this in the theater while it was running – Jai and I got so sick over the holidays that I barely made it into the cinema to see 47 Ronin, and I’m usually at every Keanu movie opening at midnight. As you can imagine, my “To-watch” list has gotten huge with all of the movies that have come out in the past few months, so I was pleased when a Blu-ray of Delivery Man arrived in the mail this week so that I could get caught up on one of the flicks on my list!
Starring Vince Vaughn, Cobie Smulders, Chris Pratt and Bobby Moynihan, Delivery Man follows the life of loser-with-a-heart-of-gold David Wozniak. David isn’t having the greatest week: He’s in huge amounts of debt to a couple of goons who will break his kneecaps if he doesn’t pay up, his family is mad at him, and he finds out his girlfriend is pregnant. Things take a turn for the crazy when an unexpected visitor shows up: He figures it’s a gangster coming to kill him, so imagine his shock when he finds a lawyer, serving him with a class action lawsuit…from 533 children. As it turns out, David made numerous donations to a fertility bank in the ’90s, which resulted in hundreds of pregnancies. Those children, now grown, want to know the identity of their biological father and are suing to find out.
David then embarks on quite the adventure, enlisting his friend/aspiring lawyer to defend him in the suit. When he receives a stack of legal paperwork naming the plantiffs – over 100 of his biological children – he decides to track down each one and casually make friends with them, not revealing his true identity. David starts to think of himself as their “Guardian Angel” and tries to help each of them on their path in life. As the lawsuit closes in and David’s girlfriend approaches her due date, this slacker faces some tough decisions as he tries to figure out the right thing to do.
The next part of my review contains some minor spoilers, so click on the blurred text to read it!
I have to say, this is one of the most upbeat movies I’ve seen in a while. I kept expecting some tragedy to befall David and unravel everything – I thought for sure one of his daughters was going to overdose after he signed her release from a hospital rather than send her to rehab, but nope, everything turns out just fine; better than fine, because everything is perfectly resolved and everyone is happy at the end of the movie. It’s really, really sweet – the film is not realistic by any means, but honestly, most of the time I am complaining because movies are too depressing. Films are escapism for me, because as far as I’m concerned, real life is stressful enough without having to be stressed out over fictional characters, too. It’s very relaxing and nice for me when a movie is just straight-up happy!This film raises some questions about modern-day fertility treatments and navigating the ethics of them – Delivery Man veers towards being a little hokey and stereotypical at times, but it’s well-meaning (Just like David!) and really is a cute movie to watch if you want to forget about your problems and watch something really happy.
Delivery Man was released on DVD and Blu-Ray this Tuesday and is available on Amazon
What would YOU do if you had 533 children?
