Daddy Day Care

Daddy Day Care is a 2003 American family comedy film starring Eddie Murphy in the lead role, Jeff Garlin, Steve Zahn, Regina King, and Anjelica Huston. Written by Geoff Rodkey and directed by Steve Carr, it marks Murphy and Carr's second collaboration after Dr. Dolittle 2 (2001). The plot follows two fathers who start a child day care out of their home after they are laid off from their corporate jobs. The film was released in the United States on May 9, 2003, by Columbia Pictures. It received generally negative reviews from critics, but grossed $164.4 million worldwide on a budget of $60 million. The movie was followed by two sequels, in the film series of the same name. Plot Charlie Hinton is a market executive at a local food company. He and his wife Kim have just enrolled their son Ben into Chapman Academy, an over academic preschool held by the haughty Gwyneth Harridan. However, on the day they enrolled him, Charlie and his best friend, Phil Ryerson, find themselves (along with 300 others) fired when their boss, CEO Jim Fields, shuts down the company's entire health division due to children disliking new, healthy breakfast cereals made from vegetables. Charlie then breaks the news to Kim and Ben at dinner. Charlie assures them he’ll find a new job. While Kim supports the family by returning to work as a lawyer, Charlie, after six weeks of job hunting and finding nothing, is forced by the bank to take Ben out of Chapman. Unable to find a satisfactory alternative (one place was in a trailer park with a sickly woman, one had a place keeping the kids in the basement, and the last place was surrounded by police), Charlie decides to open a daycare center in his home with the help of Phil, calling it "Daddy Day Care". Although local parents are suspicious of men working with kids, a few choose their service as it's more affordable and child-based.