Very recently, some bright minds in Canada envisioned a movie and made it possible. This comedy, titled Starbuck had a good storyline overall and managed to inspire a few laughs here and there too. The concept is fairly simple, and is quite hilarious when you can imagine the frustration of a sperm donor to find that he is a father to hundreds of children (but never knows any of them). Leaving aside the thought why the children born of his donated sperm would have any interest in meeting him, he sets on a journey to meet ‘his’ children (or at least, a few of them). Inspired with the plot, some bright minds in the US decided to remake the Canadian comedy with Vince Vaughn in the lead, playing protagonist David. The plot seems well and light to create a recipe for a comedy, but unfortunately, the film falls quite flat because of the gaping loopholes (almost representing the frustrating emptiness of the sperm donor’s conscience).

First, the movie lacks even the minimum of innovativeness and imagination that takes the plot of a remake to a unique level. Just how unimaginative is the plot? You can consider the fact that David uses a pseudonym at the sperm donation facility. There is no prize for guessing this pseudonym. It is, most unimaginatively, ‘Starbuck’. Yes, you did hear that right. David’s pseudonym and the original Canadian film are same, probably implying the great appreciation of the original film by the remake director.

The film essentially revolves around five of his progenies, who wished to reconnect with their ‘daddy’ after getting to know about their births. The film sheds no light on the plight of the hapless husbands who were unable to impregnate their wives, and now have to bear the immense frustration of their ‘sons’ trying to find out who their ‘father’ is. Really, the feelings of these poor men (husbands) can be the material to a hilarious comedy! But, let the director and the producer of the films decide about that! Here, you only get to know about Starbuck…err…The Delivery Man.

The movie allows only five of his progenies to reconnect with him. In fact, by the plot, it would be impossible to make a film where David meets all his ‘children’. The plot says that he fathered a total 533 children. Now, would there be any story if he gets to connect with all of them? The reunion is pretty bland, featuring emotional group hugs. The blandness is everywhere in the movie, as the five chosen ones are all white people. So, there is actually much lack of diversity, when David encounters a barista, a drug addict, a street musician, a lifeguard and a know-it-all nerd (who quite expectedly is the only person to know David’s secrets). In fact, the children reconnect to find their dad, and often have their ‘Find our Dad’ meetings. David is actually a regular face in these meetings, and none of the airheads thinks why an absolute stranger constantly frequents their personal meetings and look at them with weird eyes. Overall, it is a movie not too much of a recommendation (especially if you already saw Starbuck).