Dismal Grown Ups a Juvenile Comedy
After the death of their Junior High basketball coach, former best friends Lenny (Adam Sandler), Eric (Kevin James), Kurt (Chris Rock), Marcus (David Spade) and Rob (Rob Schneider) reunite for the funeral with their families in tow. Heading to a secluded lake house that used to be their departed mentor’s favorite spot, the quintet remiss about the old days while also bonding anew, their wives and kids discovering a semi-fresh way to live life the majority of them had sadly forgotten.
Chris Rock, David Spade, Kevin James, Rob Schneider and Adam Sandler in Grown Ups © Sony Pictures
It comes as no surprise I’m assuming to no one that Grown Ups is not a very good movie. The script by Sandler and Fred Wolf (Strange Wilderness) feels as if it were made up on the spot, the majority of it smelling of warmed over clichés and platitudes so ancient they haven’t been fresh since the Middle Ages. There are very few laughs and even fewer genuine moments, and the fact such giftedly talented actresses like Salma Hayek, Maria Bello and Maya Rudolph as so ingloriously wasted in this is nearly enough for me to want to flush it down the toilet almost on its own.
But the sad truth is that, unlike other recent Sandler misfires like Bedtime Stories, You Don’t Mess with the Zohan or Click this one is hardly a chore to sit through, and as inept and as stupid as much of it is I can’t say I was in any sort of pain trying to sit there and watch it. Heck, there are even one or two genuinely funny moments (especially early on), and while that’s not near enough to warrant even a partial recommendation it is enough to keep the film out of the cinematic waste bin of putrid mediocrity.
I do find it odd that the guy who started out his career making unwatchable duds like Problem Child and Beverly Hills Ninja has managed to become Sandler’s go-to guy as far as many of his comedies are concerned. By my count this is the fifth of the actor’s films that Dennis Dugan has been behind the scenes calling the shots, and while each of them has proven to be something of a hit with audiences not a single one is even remotely what I’d call decent (not even Happy Gilmore). The guy’s idea of comedy gold seems to be to inflict as much bodily harm as possible, and if some one doesn’t end up in a full-body cast by the climax then I’m guessing he doesn’t think he’s done his job properly.
Putting that aside, the real problem here is that this movie doesn’t seem to be about anything. You get the idea that Sandler wanted to tell a story about how our children are becoming so increasingly disconnected by the natural world society’s increasing infatuation with technology, about how parents are allowing video games, cell phones and television to do their work for them. But if that’s what he and Wolf were going for they don’t come even close to succeeding, the final product more a hodge-podge of wisecracks and putdowns than it is anything remotely substantive.
Still, I’ve seen far worse from the actor, and while I’d rather he’d make more films like Funny People or Reign Over Me if he is going to make sterile tripe at least he’s made one that’s not so putridly incoherent and infantile that I didn’t feel like shooting myself once it was over. While Grown Ups is a serious waste of time (especially in regards to its female cast members) and talent it didn’t make me hate either myself or the fact I had to watch it. It’s a small victory, sure, but in the case of so many of Sandler’s so-called comedies I’ll take said small victories wherever I can get them.
Film Rating: êê (out of 4)
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