Scott and Kate’s devotion to their daughter Alex is undeniable. And parental love is to be highly commended. However, Alex’s parents have been irresponsible with their money habits and their budget—or lack of a budget—and they can’t pay for Alex to attend college. Enter their friend Frank (Jason Mantzoukas), who is addicted to gambling. He is able to convince the desperate couple to start a casino in his house to solve their money problems. But Frank has a porn addiction too, not to mention alcohol, and are they willing to look at those addictions as a possible money maker too.
Will Ferrell and Amy Poehler can usually get a laugh even out of a lifeless tree, but they are working with limited material in this one. For example, in one scene Scott and Kate talk about Kate’s past, and the fact she was called “Smoke-a-Lot-of-Pot Kate” and “Pee-Outside Kate.” Apparently these two things were what she used to be known for. Unfortunately, that is about as good as it gets in the movie—although Ryan Simpkins plays daughter Alex as, at least at times, the levelheaded one in the family.
The movie is a predictable farce of Scott and Kate running their home-based gambling den and what that entails. It’s not meant to be a family film and they definitely succeeded in that effort!