There are countless movies about finding one’s biological parents and then realizing that the search is not as important as cherishing the people around you. Mamma Mia! is probably the most popular example of this trope. In Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara, Imran’s trip to Spain was all about meeting his actual father after the demise of his stepfather. Supernatural had a running gag where it seemed like every kid out there was trying to figure out if Dean Winchester was their dad because, well, Dean was a promiscuous fellow. Although How I Met Your Mother wasn’t exactly about searching for the mother of Ted Mosby’s children, it kind of was for the audience, because every episode of every season was about figuring out who the titular character was. The recently-released The Life List had Alex looking for her biological dad. Yeah, so it’s safe to say that this trope has been done to death by now. But is that going to stop filmmakers from using it? Absolutely not. Hence, we have the utterly boring and predictable The Dad Quest.
Salvador Espinosa’s The Dad Quest, written by Tato Alexander, tells the story of Gallo, the director of a reality TV show called Lo Mejor del Mundo (which translates to The Best in the World, which is apparently the Spanish title of the movie as well). Gallo is always busy, and when he is not in Mexico, he is in Miami, planning the next chapter of his life. He shares a somewhat amicable relationship with his ex-wife, Alicia, but he is an absent co-parent to his son, Benito. Even when Gallo and Benito spend time together, the former is either on his phone or so lost in thought that he can’t even hear what Benito is saying. One day, Alicia meets Gallo at his favorite Japanese restaurant and informs him that, due to the promotion she has gotten, she needs to move to Madrid with Benito. Gallo is seemingly unphased by this development, which causes Alicia to storm out of the restaurant and into oncoming traffic. So, Benito becomes Gallo’s responsibility. And right before dying, since Alicia insinuated that Benito might not be Gallo’s biological son, the father-son duo embark on a journey to find Benito’s real dad.
The issue with Tato Alexander’s writing in The Dad Quest pretty much starts with the unceremonious death of Alicia. What was the thought process behind it? I assumed that the writer had repurposed that misogynistic trope of fridging a female character to set the plot into motion, and then I found out that the writer is a woman. So, either this is a case of internalized misogyny or pure, unadulterated stupidity. You know what? I would’ve understood the decision to kill off Alicia if her death loomed heavily over Benito and Gallo. But since this is a comedy, the gravity of that tragic moment is not even palpable for a few seconds. I even would’ve tolerated Alicia’s death if this was something that happened to the writer, but that’s not the case either, because this movie is based on Mariano Vera’s script for Today We Fix the World. Vera is also the mind behind No Kids, Ten Days Without Mom, When Mom Is Away, the Father There Is Only One quadrilogy, Jawaani Jaaneman (you read that correctly), and a whole host of other projects, which indicate that he has some deep-seated familial problems that should be addressed before he puts pen to paper again, thereby inspiring some hack writer to adapt his work. But I digress.
If Tato, Salvador, or anyone from the creative team could look me in the eye and give me a logical or sensible answer as to why Alicia was killed instead of being allowed to go on the trip with Benito and Gallo to find the father while feigning ignorance as to his identity, I will give this film a full 5 stars. Why did the whole team behind The Dad Quest watch Today We Fix The World and think that that part of the script—the one where the mother dies in a freak accident—required no changes at all and needed to be adapted beat for beat? I mean, out of the 3 main female characters in the film, one is killed off to set the plot in motion, one is a nagging old lady, and one might as well be a figment of Gallo and Benito’s imagination because she barely has any depth. But nobody batted an eye because the whole point of the film was about becoming a father while finding the dad? Sure. So, why not put some effort into the whole dynamic between Gallo and Benito? Why make them go through the most boring, bland, tepid, safe, and mind-numbing motions? Why not take some actual risky swings to underscore the current state of parenthood and actually make the audience bloody feel something?
Do you remember the scene from Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2, where Yondu told Quill that Ego might have been Quill’s father, but he wasn’t his dad, whilst sacrificing himself to save Quill? I have watched that scene numerous times, and if you were to show it to me right now, I’ll cry again. Here’s the thing, though: outside of a couple of scenes between Yondu and Quill, we never really get to see what kind of a foster father Yondu was to Quill. But it’s the build-up to that moment, the performances from Michael Rooker and Chris Pratt, the music, the direction, and every other cinematic element that makes it so impactful and memorable. Now, if you spend 84 minutes trying to send a similar message to the audience while not producing even a fraction of the emotion of the aforementioned scene, then you should throw your movie into the garbage bin. I am not even kidding. This is a waste of money. Go and give the funds that you have acquired for something like The Dad Quest and donate it to shelters for kids who don’t have parents. At least that’ll be more useful than remaking Today We Fix The World.
In case you are wondering why I have bothered to give The Dad Quest one star after all this, well, it’s for Martino Leonardi, i.e., the kid who plays Benito. He has a deadpan sense of humor that I really liked, and he was more tolerable than everything else in the movie. Since I started this review by bringing up Mamma Mia!, I’ll end it by underscoring how comedies with preposterous premises used to have so much creativity. They used to be silly and yet fun. And the performances used to be extremely enjoyable. Nowadays, this space has been taken over by Netflix, which is churning out stuff like The Dad Quest, The Life List, The Love Scam, Wild Wild Punjab, Mother of the Bride, Murder Mubarak, etc. Why? I mean, things are not all that great on the big screen when it comes to comedies. But since I am not buying a ticket to watch them, I can’t exactly complain about that. I am paying a hefty monthly subscription for these streaming platforms. They can put it to better use instead of spending it on a handful of creators like the Russo Brothers, Zack Snyder, Jennifer Lopez, and Ryan Reynolds, and then leaving everyone else to work with scraps. In case it’s not clear already, please, don’t watch The Dad Quest. Go look after your child or your friend’s or relative’s kid, because the future is bleak and they need all the support and care in the world.
