The Coopers - Worse is possible

Eleven-year-old Alexander Cooper (Ed Oxenbould) is fed up with his life being an absolute disaster while the rest of his family has everything going perfectly. When he has another really bad day, he makes a wish on his birthday that his family should also experience such a disaster day. And indeed, this wish seems to come true: while at an important job interview of his father (Steve Carell) everything goes wrong that can go wrong, a reading for children organized by his mother (Jennifer Garner) threatens to get completely out of hand. His brother Anthony (Dylan Minnette) falls out with his girlfriend and his sister Emily (Kerris Dorsey) gets a bad cold on the day of a big school play, of all things. And that's just the start of this miserable day...

The Coopers - There's Always Worse is the fourth film adaptation of the classic children's book Alexander and the Miserable Day by Judith Viorsts. But the first three adaptations, in keeping with the small scale of the original, were merely short films that ran no longer than 30 minutes. Director Miguel Arteta (Welcome to Cedar Rapids) has now tried his hand at the first feature-length version. The result is a typical Disney family comedy of the particularly turbulent kind. There's plenty of mayhem that's geared more toward simple-minded slapstick than true-to-life logic. Subtlety definitely gets a break here. If you're expecting depth from the story or the protagonists, or a certain amount of subtlety from the humor, you're definitely in the wrong movie here.

On the other hand, if you can get into the family-oriented humor in the style of the Greg's Diary movies, you'll get 81 fairly entertaining minutes with some thoroughly enjoyable gags. Sure, in some scenes it's almost sad to see how Steve Carell, so soon after his well-deserved Oscar nomination, gambles away his hard-earned reputation for a few cheap gags. And Jennifer Garner's over-the-top portrayal of the over-mom and career woman has its share of laugh-out-loud moments. But it can't be denied that they have a certain amount of fun with these rather undemanding roles, which makes their performances absolutely bearable. And the three young actors who mime their children do a decent job.

The Coopers - Worse is certainly not a landmark family comedy. Miguel Arteta's production clearly follows the mold without once taking a risk or revealing any signs of originality. But younger viewers in particular are unlikely to be bothered by this. Those who like very simple family entertainment with child-friendly slapstick and a well-behaved message are guaranteed to enjoy this chaotic day with the Coopers. And for this audience there is then also with a lot of good will a proper: Worth seeing!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp