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.

He and his wife, Kim, have just enrolled their son Ben into Chapman Academy, an overly academic preschool overseen by the haughty Gwyneth Harridan.

However, on Ben's first day, Charlie and his best friend Phil are laid off(alongside 300 others) when the company shuts down their health division due to the poor reception of their vegetable-flavored breakfast cereals.

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 around town, Charlie decides to open a daycare center in his home with the help of Phil, calling it "Daddy Day Care".

Charlie and Phil find themselves rectifying problems pointed out by Dan Kubitz, a director of child services, to ensure their daycare is suitable for children.

Deciding that Ben is the most important thing to him, Charlie quits, convincing Phil to join him and re-open Daddy Day Care.

Informing Marvin of their plans, Charlie confronts Harridan during a student orientation and reveals to the parents in attendance how little she cares about their children.

Six months later, Daddy Day Care manages to buy the building it needs to expand and prospers, with Charlie and Phil now successful, Jennifer now working for the center, and Marvin entering a relationship with one of the parents.

[7] Todd McCarthy from Variety called it "scarcely more amusing than spending ninety minutes in a pre K classroom" and a "comically undernourished junk food snack".

[13] A sequel was released on August 8, 2007, titled Daddy Day Camp, with Cuba Gooding Jr. replacing Murphy as Charlie Hinton and Sony once again distributing the film (this time under TriStar).