The Pacifier

Directed by Adam Shankman

Starring Vin Diesel, Brittany Snow, Max Theriot, Morgan York

Classification: U

Vin Diesel plays a double role in The Pacifier – as a Navy Seal and babysitter! This actor known for his action films like XXX, now finds himself in a family comedy where he does quite a good job.

After failing in a mission to save a scientist working on a secret invention, Shane Wolfe (Vin Diesel) is assigned to baby-sit his five children. It is quite an unusual assignment for him, but it is still highly important as their mother, Julie Plummer (Faith Ford) is away, trying to discover where her husband’s invention is.

At first, obviously, it is really hard for him. This soldier, trained to know the importance of discipline, order and courage has to deal with a messy house full of toys, nappies… and children! The weapons and the high-technology material he normally uses are replaced by feeding bottles, a minivan; and the “soldiers” he has to train are children aged between one and 17. They are quite reluctant to accept his moving in with them in the beginning, but a compromise is reached. The children finally realise that they need his protection; they are in danger because some evil thieves are trying to get hold of their father’s invention. As far as Shane is concerned, he starts to appreciate family life and discovers he wants to settle down. Of course, he finds a potential partner, in Claire Fletcher (Lauren Graham), the Principal of the children’s school. It had to be this way: this is a family comedy!

He helps the children to achieve their dreams and fulfil themselves: he teaches the eldest, Zoe (Brittany Snow), how to drive, he cares about 14-year-old Seth’s (Max Theriot) desire to perform, he even directs his play; and he manages to teach Kung-Fu to eight-year-old Lulu (Morgan York).

Some scenes are really funny; some others are just stupid with unnecessary gags. The nanny’s part is quite annoying for example, as it was useless in the story. Morgan York’s performance is the best I think, despite the fact that she is the youngest, as she understood what her role was and she is perfect in it. The attempts to move the audience to tears don’t work: when Zoe tells Shane that she misses her dad, crying and asking for hugs and tenderness… we cannot believe in it, even for a minute. It is as if the director remembered that those children just lost their dad and it has to be mentioned somehow. Of course the action scenes are quite good, especially the fights, but the presence of the two North Korean agents trying to steal the invention is just ridiculous.

I think the whole idea was to play on the difference between this story and what we usually expect from Vin Diesel, but the result, although enjoyable, is a bit cheesy.