Daddy Day Care(known in Japan as:Charlie and 14 kids) is a 2003 American comedy film , starring Eddie Murphy . It was written by Geoff Rodkey and was directed by Steve Carr. It was released in theaters on May 9, 2003. It was produced by Revolution Studios and released by Columbia Pictures . Although the film was financially successful, grossing $164 million worldwide on a budget of $60 million plus prints and advertising, it's 2007 sequel, Daddy Day Camp starring Cuba Gooding Jr. , was almost universally panned by critics and bombed in the box office.

Charles "Charlie" Hinton ( Eddie Murphy ) is a busy working father and his wife, Kim ( Regina King ) has just gone back to work as a lawyer . They enroll their child, Ben ( Khamani Griffin ), in Chapman Academy, a very academic pre-school headed by Miss Harridan ( Anjelica Huston ). Soon after, Charlie is laid off . In need of money, he opens up a day care center , "Daddy Day Care" with the help of his best friend Phil Ryerson ( Jeff Garlin ). At first, the local moms are suspicious of men wanting to work with children (mainly because they think they're homosexual or child molesters). But as "Daddy Day Care" is cheaper and more child-centered than the academy, the latter begins to lose popularity. Miss Harridan attempts to shut down Daddy Day Care by notifying child services that Charlie and Phil are not following the regulations.

Mr. Kubitz, a director of child services notifies them of the codes that need to be fixed, which Charlie and Phil quickly correct. Daddy Day Care grows in popularity and attracts more children. Mr. Kubitz informs Phil and Charlie that they need another employee to keep an appropriate ratio of children to caregivers. Luckily, Marvin ( Steve Zahn ), a former co-worker, had dropped by and after seeing how good he is at entertaining the children, Phil and Charlie ask him about joining. Marvin is unsure at first, but then finds himself falling for Kelli ( Leila Arcieri ), the single mother of one of the children and agrees.

Later, Mr. Kubitz tells them they have too many kids to stay at Charlie's residence. They find an abandoned building with potential, but don't have the money to buy it. They hold a fund raising called "Rock for Daddy Day Care" which Miss Harridan finds out about. Miss Harridan and her assistant wreck the festival by unplugging a bouncy castle , switching face paint with glue , filling the food with cockroaches and releasing animals from the petting zoo . Daddy Day Care doesn't raise enough money. Shortly after, Charlie and Phil are offered their old jobs back, accepting Miss Harridan's offer to take the kids back to the academy. Marvin, heartbroken by the closing of the day care, declines Charlie and Phil's offer to be on board their marketing panel.

Charlie soon realizes that marketing is not what it's all cracked up to be, and successfully convinces the children and their parents to return to Daddy Day Care, making it a raging success, and causing Chapman Academy to be shut down. Marvin is now in a relationship with Kelli. Miss Harridan now takes a job as a crossing guard , and her former assistant, Jenny ( Lacey Chabert ), joins Daddy Day Care at the new facility.