Grown Ups

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Adam Sandler got together with long-time collaborator, director Dennis Dugan (Happy Gilmore, You Don’t Mess with the Zohan) and four of his comedian friends; Chris Rock, David Spade, Kevin James and Rob Schneider to have a good time and make a comedy about friendship and family. A few well-known actresses were added into the mix and what could and should have resulted is enjoyable and fun cinema-fare. However the final product, Grown Ups is anything but. Self-indulgent, lacking a storyline and structure and trading on tired comedy set-ups- Grown Ups is disappointingly unfunny.

Sandler not only co-wrote (with Fred Wolf, Joe Dirt and Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star) and produced this film, through his production company Happy Madison, he also plays the central character around whom the story revolves. Lenny Feder is a successful Hollywood agent who is married to a beautiful fashion designer, Roxanne (Salma Hayek) and has three overindulged children. After the death of his childhood basketball coach, Lenny rents the summer house, where he and his team-mates celebrated their junior championship win 30 years earlier, and invites his old team-mates and their families to stay for the coinciding 4th July long-weekend.

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Each character has a quirk, which is mercilessly ridiculed for the entirety of the film (except Sandler’s character whose problem is he is too successful and has given his family too much). Sandler’s brand of humour has a lot of followers and as well as giving the comedian a big bank balance, it has also given him a lot of freedom in the films he makes. However Grown Ups goes beyond his normal brand of slapstick, gross-out humour. The characters (aside from Sandler’s) are picked on for being old, fat, ugly, stupid, short, unsuccessful and flatulent in ways that are more nonchalantly cruel than funny. With friends like these who needs enemies?

But it isn’t just Sandler who is not up to scratch; the other comedians’ shtick is also becoming old hat- James eats and falls over, Spade is pervy and Schneider embraces another weird persona- nothing new here. Rock, perhaps the greatest comedy hope in the film, gets lost in the mix and his biting sarcasm is sadly missed. The talents of Maria Bello (A History of Violence) and Maya Ruldoph (Away We Go) as well as Salma Hayek, as the wives of the piece, are ridiculously squandered as they are relegated to bit players.

The main problem with Grown Ups is pretty simple, it isn’t funny. The lack of effort in scripting and character development is nothing but lazy filmmaking, which could have been easily forgiven if this comedy had provided a few good laughs. While the comedians all appear to have had a great time making this film- it is unforgivable that this doesn’t translate into a good time for the audience as well.

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First published at Trespass

Date Night

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When you put Tina Fey and Steve Carell together in a film you expect it to be funny. Date Night, while it won’t set the comedy world alight, doesn’t disappoint. Yes the plot is predictable and the jokes aren’t particularly edgy, but considering the standard of American comedies recently, especially those with excellent comedians attached, Date Night isn’t half bad.

Claire (Fey) and Phil Foster (Carell) are a busy married couple with kids whose scheduled date nights have lost their romance. When a couple in their book club (Kristen Wiig and Mark Ruffalo) decide to divorce, citing the banality of their relationship, Claire and Phil begin to worry that they too are stuck in a runt. Breaking their usual date cycle, they venture into Manhattan, leaving the familiarity of suburban New Jersey. When they take someone else’s reservation at a pretentious restaurant, and are mistaken for a couple who are blackmailing a mobster (a very orange Ray Liotta), adventure ensues.

Following the tried and tested scenario of mistaken identity resulting in high jinx, the film is peppered with satisfying cameos that prop up an increasingly silly plot. James Franco and Mila Kunis are great as the real criminal couple, getting some of the best and most risqué lines. Mark Wahlberg is suitable eye-candy as a security advisor with a hint of the 007s, who helps Claire and Phil evade their corrupt cop pursuers (Common and Jimmi Simpson).

Fey and Carell, thanks to their similar comedic styles, make a pleasing partnership on screen. Both excellent ad-libbers, the full extent of their abilities can be enjoyed during the film’s closing credits. While the directing skills of Shawn Levy (Cheaper by the Dozen, Just Married) are questionable, this likeable pairing keeps the film afloat.

Date Night is really a self-fulfilling prophecy; its broad appeal making it exactly the kind of movie couples go see. While the film’s more honest moments about marriage and kids may cause some nervous giggling, for most this film will live up to requirements. It is just entertaining enough and just short enough (88 minutes) for easy cinema viewing.

3/5

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Published in The Brag 12/04/10

Comedy Week List- Funniest Films Ever Made

It is Comedy Week at Trespass and I asked the film section and some fantastic contributors the question- What is the funniest film ever made- then inexpliciable gave them 3 picks plus many honourable mentions.

Here are my picks

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Withnail & I (Bruce Robinson, 1987)

This cult British film is easily one of my favourite films of all-time. Starring teetotaller Richard E. Grant and Paul McGann as two out-of-work and permanently drunk actors the film spawned an accompanying drinking game that is deadly if played properly. Hilarious for almost its entirety the film has a rather poignant ending, (just the way us Brits like our comedies, slightly depressing). With unforgettable supporting roles from Richard Griffiths and Ralph Brown, this film is jam-packed with endlessly repeatable lines “We want the finest wines available to humanity. We want them here, and we want them now!”

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¡Three Amigos! (John Landis, 1986)

Strangely I don’t find Steve Martin, Chevy Chase or Martin Short particularly funny individually, but as a trio they make perfect comedic sense. This is a film I watched repeatedly as a child and it taught me one of my favourite words- plethora as well as starting an (unsatisfied) obsession with piñatas. There are so many brilliant scenes in this film, about has-been silent movie actors who get hired to save a small Mexican village from the evil El Guapo, but if my arm is twisted would have to name ‘My Little Buttercup’ as my favourite.

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Superbad (Greg Mottola, 2007)

Superbad, starring Michael Cera and Jonah Hill, is undoubtedly the best film in the recent rise of the bromance comedies. Yes it is juvenile, with extended dick jokes and a plot based around getting laid, but it’s also kind of a sweet buddy film. While my honourable mentions list is made up of far superior films, none make me laugh out loud as much as this one.

Honourable mentions:
In the Loop (Armando Iannucci, 2009), The Life of Brian (Terry Jones, 1979), Zoolander (Ben Stiller, 2001), This is Spinal Tap (Rob Reiner, 1984), The Big Lebowski (The Coen Brothers, 1998), The Golden Child (Michael Ritchie, 1986)

Read the full list at Trespass