Over at Moving Pictures, I reviewed the latest Adam Sandler film Grown Ups.
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| Like the majority of Sandler’s films — he co-wrote and produced the movie — the often weak, stereotype-based jokes grind on for far too long. How many lame fat jokes (played on Kevin James, who weighs less than many Americans) does one film need? One comment about a bad toupee will elicit a chuckle, but a dozen? While the grandmother-who-farts gag worked the first time, it fell flat after the fourth iteration. |
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| Director Dennis Dugan, whose previous credits include “Happy Gilmore,” “Beverly Hills Ninja,” “National Security,” “I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry” and “You Don’t Mess with the Zohan,” oversees what amounts to not much more than a tortuously long “Saturday Night Live” sketch (Sandler, Rock, Spade and Schneider all performed on the show together). The funniest moments of “Grown Ups” occur when the actors revert to their stand-up comedic roots and obviously ad lib their lines. Sadly, poor editing often diminishes these scenes with awkward cuts. |
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| At 102 minutes, the story moves at a snail’s pace, as though the weekend-long story were actually depicted in real time. Beyond too few laughs, “Grown Ups” successfully wastes the talents of its actors and, more distressingly, the audience’s time and money. |
Check out the rest of my review at Moving Pictures.