Christmastime family hijinks are afoot in the new holiday-themed trailer for the Will Ferrell/Mark Wahlberg comedy sequel Daddy’s Home 2. John Lithgow and Mel Gibson bring their veteran comedic chops to the film, which also stars Linda Cardellini, John Cena, Alessandra Ambrosio, and Owen Vaccaro.

The 2015 hit Daddy’s Home, branded one of the best films of the century by Sofia Coppola, set up Ferrell and Wahlberg as dueling dads Brad and Dusty; milking the contrast between Ferrell’s straight-laced sweetness and Wahlberg’s edgy coolness. In Daddy’s Home 2, Brad and Dusty have to deal with the arrivals of their own fathers, the goofy Mr. Whitaker (Lithgow) and the creepy Kurt (Gibson).

Broad slapstick and awkward character comedy are the orders of the day in the new holiday trailer for Daddy’s Home 2, released by Paramount Pictures. Ferrell pours on the straight-man silliness, navigating a Griswoldian gauntlet of embarrassing situations involving (among other things) hot cocoa, a felled cell phone tower, and an out-of-control inflatable snow sled. The only thing missing is Cousin Eddie in a bathrobe, clutching a cigar and beer can in the same hand while emptying his RV’s crapper into the storm drain.

Childish romance is brewing for the ever-awkward Dylan (Vaccaro), but in the trailer’s one extended dialog bit, stepdad Brad is here to advise him on the ways of women. Unfortunately, Brad’s advice for Dylan will only encourage him to become a frustrated friend-zone strandee and possible down-the-road stalker. While spying on Brad from behind some Christmas trees, Dusty and Kurt become disgusted by his “unmanly” words of wisdom for Dylan, and Dusty comes bursting out to take charge of the situation. Given that Dusty himself was taught manliness by Mel Gibson, you can be sure he’ll have some different advice for Dylan on how to take charge with the ladies.

The trailer also has room for a little mild sacrilege as a snowball fight breaks out while everyone is dressed up in Nativity costumes. There’s Gibson in a long (this time fake) beard dressed as one of the wise men who came to witness the birth of Jesus (Gibson already covered the death of Jesus in his blockbuster the Passion of the Christ), complementing one of the kids on their “great arm.” Somehow Gibson’s character ends up in the hospital, and gets into a martial arts battle with Dusty, because that’s how manly men work out their feelings. If all that weren’t crazy enough, distinguished long-time character actor John Lithgow winds up curled in the fetal position in the woods surrounded by a pack of hungry wolves.

The original Daddy’s Home grossed $150 million domestically when it came out in 2015. Paramount is hoping Daddy’s Home 2 can put up similar numbers by bringing in crowds looking for a little holiday-themed wackiness, relatable family comedy, very wild slapstick humor, and Mel Gibson saying “dead hookers.”

MORE: Mark Wahlberg is the Highest Paid Actor of 2017

Source: Paramount Pictures

  • Daddy’s Home 2 Release Date: 2017-11-10