‘The Dad Quest’ (2025) Netflix Movie Review - Sentimental Nonsense

You know Gallo (Michel Brown) is a bad dad because he's always busy. This TV producer doesn't know that his son, Benito (Martino Leonardi), attends learning therapy. He has forgotten that he met his now ex-wife, Alicia (Fernanda Castillo), at the "Happiness" agency. Benito says he wants pizza for dinner, but Gallo makes him eat sushi. When Benito starts talking about a girl he likes, Gallo quickly interrupts him (he gives priority to a call from the office). Before Alicia can say if she wants a warm or a cold drink, Gallo decides on her behalf and orders a warm drink. When she informs him that she has been offered a job requiring her and Benito to move to another city, Gallo simply nods casually. Alicia, shocked by her ex-husband's indifference, asks him whether he has a heart or a sushi in his body. Can't a man be a good father, a good husband, and also a workaholic? Yes, but that would disrupt the message of Salvador Espinosa's film, which repeats that stupid cliché about prioritizing your family. There is nothing wrong with spending time with friends and family. However, your job is equally important, right? Why can't these movies end with a work-life balance message? Achieving this balance is the goal nowadays, right? Gallo, alas, is another one of those characters who, after listening to sentimental nonsense towards the end, discard their professional ambitions to give all their time to the kids. Well, who will pay the bills? Toys, like that walkie-talkie, don't come without money. I guess Gallo will start relying on his mother, Elena (Julieta Egurrola), for financial blessings.

The story, written by Tato Alexander, briefly indicates that Elena might be responsible for Gallo's behavior and that Benito could grow up to become as emotionally detached as his father. Alexander, though, has also made a film for the Netflix audience, so she doesn't dig deeply into these suggestions. The Dad Quest/Lo mejor del mundo merely wants us to react with "Awws" and heart emojis. Brown continuously blinks his eyes to cutify the emotional scenes, while Leonardi's sad face is deployed to melt the hearts of the audience. It's a cheap shortcut - a sign of uncreativity. Espinosa's attempts at pulling at our heartstrings are so obvious that they become ineffective. It's one thing when a hack sets out to make a film. What's worse is when this film fails to do its basic tasks properly. I don't think a movie like The Dad Quest requires the support or the curse of film critics. An average Netflix viewer might end up watching this film without caring whether the reviews are positive or negative. Something like this is turned on to just kill the time. Everybody knows where the story will end eventually. Yet if anyone decides to stick with this film, they will do so to soak in the rich scenery or to swallow the cute sentimentality. Both these elements didn't work for me, and I think even the filmmakers aren't too interested in this soppy trip. It's not just the fact that the father-son duo find the location of potential dads effortlessly or that Gallo is fired from the job just so that the film can become more "dramatic." (Spoiler alert: It doesn't, at any moment, become dramatic). The main culprit is that idiot climax that encourages you to scream, "How stupid!" This same ending could have been shown with sufficient conviction and logic, but the filmmakers simply throw their hands in the air and don't even apologize for wasting your time - probably because even they know an average Netflix viewer will use this film as background noise.

Final Score- [2.5/10]
Reviewed by - Vikas Yadav
Follow @vikasonorous on Twitter
Publisher at Midgard Times