Netflix’s Old Dads is a smug and puerile attack on millennial life and ‘snowflakes’ — what is it for?

Netflix’s new No 1 film takes aim at millennial sensitivity through the eyes of Bill Burr’s middle-aged curmudgeon. ‘Old Dads’ aims for provocation, writes Louis Chilton, but ends up mired in distinctly unfunny self-righteousness

Hater familias: Bill Burr (right), Bokeem Woodbine (centre) and Bobby Cannavale (left) play three misanthropic fathers in ‘Old Dads’ (Michael Moriatis/Netflix)

Men will literally write, direct and star in their own Netflix comedy film instead of going to therapy. By “men”, I mean Bill Burr, the 55-year-old comedian whose angry curmudgeon persona has formed the basis of a robust three-decade stand-up career. And the new Netflix movie is Old Dads, a smug, lightweight comedy that sees Burr, Bobby Cannavale, 53, and Bokeem Woodbine, 50, play a trio of middle-aged fathers.

Except the film isn’t really about fatherhood at all. The kids barely feature; the majority of Old Dads’ runtime is simply an airing of intergenerational gripes – not between Burr’s character, Jack Kelly, and his own children, but between Jack and the millennials surrounding him. As the story begins, Jack and his two friends have been relegated to employees at their own company (what a metaphor!), having sold their thriving throwback jersey business to Aspen Bell, an insufferable millennial “disruptor” played by Miles Robbins. Aspen immediately shakes up the organisation, announcing that it will “pivot” to being a “gender-neutral, carbon-neutral, 21st-century lifestyle apparel brand”. Jack and co are nonplussed – so too are we supposed to be. It’s an inflated parody of millennial obnoxiousness that would have felt stale a decade ago. Old Dads has more straw men than an audition room for The Wizard of Oz.

Perhaps the most memorable scene comes early in the film, when Jack arrives at his son’s school late because he couldn’t get a parking space. The principal, played by Rachael Harris, chastises him for not reading the “school guidebook”. The argument escalates, as he tells her not to “dress me down in front of my kid”. He snaps: “Jesus Christ, I read the goddamn f***ing guidebook. Alright, you stumpy little c**t?” Naturally, this foul-mouthed faux pas goes down like a lead balloon: Jack is exposed as a social dinosaur, a politically incorrect relic forced to gorge on humble pie. It doesn’t end there, either – a little while later, Burr and his two cronies are sacked from their company after being filmed having a transphobic conversation about Caitlyn Jenner.