On some deep-down, perverse level, critics probably enjoy watching bad movies, if only because it gives them the chance to drop some super-snarky lines in their reviews. This week's punching bag: Daddy Day Camp (starring Cuba Gooding Jr. in Eddie Murphy's previous role, and directed by Fred "Kevin from The Wonder Years" Savage) with a rare three percent Tomatometer.

Cuba Gooding Jr. and Fred Savage.
Check our list below; the movie concept of "square dads with suddenly a lot of kids" never sits well with critics. But with Daddy Day Camp, in which Gooding's character corrals kids into a derelict lake campground, this subgenre is plumbing the lowest depths of the Tomatometer.

New York Post punster Kyle Smith gives up a one-two punch with a single sentence: not only is Daddy Day Camp "a camp for no ages," but it "has an amazing amount of CGI -- Cuba Gooding Incompetence." Also joining from the Rotten Apple is Elizabeth Weitzman, offering this relative praise: "Daddy Day Camp, the unexpected sequel to 2003's barely watchable comedy Daddy Day Care, is superior to its inspiration in one very significant way. It's three minutes shorter."

Cuba Gooding Jr. and Josh McLerran.
Critics are also concerned with the direction of Gooding's career. Aside from a Radio here, or an As Good as It Gets there, Gooding hasn't had a major winner since his Oscar. Washington Post's Desson Thomson claims that "it's gotten to the point where Gooding's presence on a marquee practically guarantees we'll be bashing our heads against the seat in front of us."

But who's the lone dissenter, granting Daddy with a three percent Tomatometer with his sole Fresh review? Regular RT contributor Fred Topel, writing for Can Mag, states: "Look, it's summer, [kids] need a movie about kids in camp causing trouble and learning good values. They did a fine job with the material."

But going back to the others, here's further adventures in critical sarcasm:

Toronto Star: "Not quite as funny as a perforated ulcer."

St. Paul Pioneer Press: "Have your little ones already seen Ratatouille and rented Thunderpants?"

Eric Snider: "The screenplay is attributed to three writers. That means if the film's funny parts were divided evenly among them, they each wrote zero."

Austin Chronicle: "If we were judging on a flatulence scale, Daddy Day Camp would earn at least three farts. But on the star scale, the wind kind of gets knocked out of their sales." 

One Guy's Opinion: "Memo to Cuba: if you're offered the lead in a sequel to Murphy's Pluto Nash, say no." (One Guy's Opinion)

Recent Babysitting Dad Movies
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6% -- Cheaper by the Dozen 2 (2005)
5% -- Yours, Mine, and Ours (2005)
29% -- Daddy Day Care (2003)
24% -- Cheaper by the Dozen (2003)