Grown Ups

Grown Ups

Well, that wasn't funny.  You would think with all these “funny people” in the movie would at least be amusing, but it’s not funny.  There are a few laughs here and there, but it just isn’t funny.  There is little to no plot, and it is just a collection of unfunny gags and unfinished skits. 

A group of friends from childhood, which they were all members of a childhood basketball team, get back together due to their coach dying.  They all spend time together to bring back good and bad memories. 

I won’t call this movie a mess, because it knows exactly what it is doing.  Heck, the last 15 minutes follows the Sandler formula to the letter.  (It is a point in every Sandler movie that all problems are solved in a crowd setting.)  The problem is the movie feels like a bunch of random jokes with not much of a story.   There are a lot of insults and riffs, but nothing else.  Even the plot isn’t brought into the story until the last 15 minutes of the film. 

I can see Adam Sandler and the director saying, “Why bother with a script?  Let’s just film it.”  That can work such as it does on Curb Your Enthusiasm.  In this movie, no one is even trying to be funny.  When I look back at Sandler’s earlier works, his stories are stupid and goofy, but there was a structure within his scripts.  That’s what made his movies fun, even with the formulaic second half of his career, his movies had structure…almost too much structure, but it was there.  Then, we get this movie.  If Sandler doesn’t want to try anymore, why should we care?  

Here’s the rest of the cast

Adam Sandler:  This is the type of movie that his character from Funny People would make fun of.  Sandler truly looks sleepy, tired throughout the movie.  Time to start chasing penguins again.

Kevin James:  Hey, who knew Paul Blart showed up in another movie?  Seriously, it is Pauly B.

Chris Rock:  He came into work wearing the same outfit from Death at a Funeral.  To be fair, Rock is probably one of the better characters in the movie, but the toe jokes were getting very old. 

 David Spade:  What happened to Spade?  It looks like a hundred bees stung him, because he looks bloated and bored.  He’s morphed into Rob Schneider as far as talent goes.  Maybe if I think of Tommy Boy and Black Sheep long enough, this version of Spade will disappear from the timeline.  

Rob Schneider:  Not funny.  There is nothing funny about his character.  He bangs an old woman, big deal. 

Salma Hayek:  I love Salma a lot, but she is hard to take here.

Maria Bello:  Her character arc involves her spraying breast milk into the face of another woman.  I’m not making this up. 

Maya Rudolph:  She’s married to Rock…

With little or no structure, Grown Up feels like a dull and boring movie carefully edited and marketed to the mass-audience.  I can’t count how many people have told me that they loved Grown Ups.  I simply I can’t see it.  This movie is worst than Little Nicky and I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry combined. 

Grade: F-

Paul Blart: Rope Man

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Yes, this what David Spade looks like today. Remember when he was the small skinny guy?  Age is a bitch isn't it.  

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Director:  "Adam, this is a script.  We're not going to use it."