grown ups 2's gross-out comedy

I think I had my hands covering my eyes more at a recent screening of Grown Ups 2 than any horror movie I have ever seen. Maybe it was a horror film. It certainly had some horrific things happen in it. Maybe, like some scary movies can do, during the course of the movie I became anesthetized to the horror, because by the end of the film I have to admit that I also laughed, more than just a few times.

The first Grown Ups was pretty silly, but certainly not as raunchy as its sequel. The recent trend in comedy seems to see how gross can we get. Bridesmaids had its bridal shop/diarrhea fest. Pitch Perfect seemed to think that projectile vomiting might be a great running gag. All of the Hangover movies are non-stop yuck-fests (and I don't mean yucks as in laughs in this case, although I'm sure that plenty of folks would disagree with me.) Pushing the gross-o-meter is hardly anything new in movies. Remember Animal House, Porky's, and lots and lots of Monty Python? But somehow, in Grown Ups 2, mixing all of the bodily fluids and crotch shots and drug references in a (at least marketed) summer family comedy seemed a little bit more incongruous.

Sandler & Co. party like it's 1989

Sandler is once again laughing all the way to the bank, as his gross-out comedy easily beat the super-hyped sci-fi extravaganza Pacific Rim at the box office. As much as I had to sigh and wonder why Grown Ups 2 was resorting to the absolutely lowest common denominator of current comic trends, I had to applaud him once again for his commitment to his ensemble. Sandler likes to work with the same folks, again and again, and I can't complain when I get to see Steve Buscemi, Salma Hayek, Maria Bello, Kevin James, Maya Rudolph, etc. together again, in another movie. The actors all seem to be having such a good time that it almost makes me forget the cringeworthy scene where a drugged-out Nick Swardson undresses, goes to bed, and then gets up to use the toilet in a home display in K-Mart. But maybe that's the Sandler Kool-Aid talking again. He keeps casting Buscemi and I keep watching.

welcome to the hotel transylvania

The more Adam Sandler movies that I see (and I seem to be seeing a lot more these days than I ever thought possible) the more I think that I get his appeal. Of course the easy answer is that he makes people laugh. But I think there is something else going on in his movies. Sandler, whether consciously or not, is trying to hold onto what it feels like to be a kid, to be silly. That makes for some seriously juvenile humor at times, which can be a turn-off for many. But being in touch with your inner eight year-old also creates a feeling of goodwill. Sandler's comedies are silly and fun. Just as many jokes miss as hit their mark, but no one, especially Sandler, takes things too seriously. His approach seems to be that if this bit doesn't work, sit tight, something else is sure to. This comic benevolence extends to his roster of acting cohorts, who keep turning up to work with him.

Hotel Transylvania takes this relaxed approach and cast full of familiar Sandler pals and matches it with some truly colorful and attractive animation, courtesy of director Genndy Tartakovsky (Dexter's Laboratory, Samurai Jack) in his feature film debut.

Sandler voices Dracula, a widower and extremely overprotective parent who is raising his daughter Mavis (Selena Gomez) in the Hotel Transylvania. Tartakovsky has Dracula glide around the castle — calm on the outside, but anxious and desperate to protect his only child in his every word and action. The hotel has been designed as a place where the world's monsters, who are actually fairly non-violent, can be safe from the dangerous and dreaded human population.

Once a year Dracula invites his fellow monsters Frankenstein (Kevin James), the Invisible Man (David Spade), the Mummy (Cee Lo Green), and the Werewolf (Steve Buscemi), among others to come and celebrate Mavis's birthday. This year Mavis is turning 118 and is getting curious, to point of distraction, about the world outside the castle walls. Dracula and Mavis will find both of their world's rocked when an unexpected human guest, a backpacker named Jonathan (Andy Samberg), shows up at the castle one evening.

Reviews have been mixed, but as usual Sandler can laugh all the way to the bank, as Hotel Transylvania had the highest-grossing September opening weekend, and is still going strong in its second week. Like Tim Burton's Frankenweenie, the makers of Hotel Transylvania have a love of old horror and monster movies, and viewers will have to pay attention to catch all of the many film references and movie monsters. The hotel is staffed by witches, zombies, and shrunken heads. I also spotted  a giant spider and octopus and a crawling hand, all favorites from '50s horror films. The kid loved the movie, so I'm sure I'll get plenty of chances to catch all of the other creatures when it eventually comes out on DVD.

When I was about my daughter's age I remember seeing The Mad Monster Party on television. I loved it, with all of the monsters and goofy, silly humor. I suspect that Sandler & Co. did too, and this is their take on the movie monsters they loved to be scared by as kids.

50 first dates

I recently saw for the first time the movie 50 First Dates with Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore. Sandler may be the recipient of the most Razzies ever bestowed upon a performer, but over the past few years I have had to admit that I can't help liking him and his movies. Did I say that out loud?

In 50 First Dates Henry (Sandler) lives the Life of Riley in Hawaii. A marine-life vet, his main hobby is to date and leave a series of women that he meets on the island. But his womanizing ways soon become a thing of the past after he meets Lucy (Barrymore) one morning at a local café. They have instant chemistry and plan to meet the next day, but when Henry shows up Lucy doesn't remember meeting him. Lucy's friends at the café fill him in — A year earlier Lucy was involved in a car accident that has affected her memory. She has an odd form of amnesia in which she forgets everything that has happened in a 24-hour period.

Learning that she was in an accident and her loss of memory each morning was too painful to experience (and re-experience), so her father Marlin (Blake Clark) and brother Doug (Sean Astin) re-enact the activities of that day, which also happened to be her father's birthday, every day, in an effort to protect her.

Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler meet cute

Rob Schneider and Sandler meet not so cute

Sandler's usual silliness is in full evidence, mainly in the characters of Doug, an aspiring bodybuilder who lisps as a result of steroid abuse, and Rob Schnieder as Ula, Henry's goofy assistant. But 50 First Dates also has a serious side. Lucy's problem does not have an easy sitcom-pat solution. Henry truly loves her, and believes that it would be better for her and her family if they didn't keep lying to her. He must come up with some creative ways to help her remember him and what happened to her. Visuals come in handy, as Lucy paints and draws and Henry helps her create a notebook and makes videotapes to help tell (and re-tell) their story.

Having a mother with dementia probably caused me to have a deeper reading of 50 First Dates. Henry and Lucy get a fresh start each day, but Henry must be the custodian of their past. It also made me realize that even if many things are forgotten, there is still a lot to be enjoyed in the moment. 50 First Dates may not be a typical romantic comedy, but it is certainly an entertaining one, and full of feeling.

adam sandler, dadaist?

There is an overwhelming amount of hatred from critics and others on the internet being spewed at Adam Sandler's latest release, Jack and Jill. Many critics seem outraged that the movie exists at all, slamming its plot (or lack thereof), the sight of Sandler in drag, the undercurrent of misogyny (Really? I'll address that in a bit.) What I find the most perplexing is why would anyone be surprised at Jack and Jill. It is exactly what it set out to be. A movie which presents Adam Sandler in a dress. What exactly were critics expecting?

Sandler has always been a populist comedian. Some would call him lazy, but mostly, I think he is plainly uncomfortable onscreen. He is a huge star, but maybe a bit embarrassed about it. He is able to push the envelope in moves produced by others (Punch-Drunk Love, Spanglish), but for the most part he has made comedies (with his company Happy Madison Productions) that like to pit him as an everyman looking for love (The Wedding Singer, Mr. Deeds, 50 First Dates) or just chock-full of hit-or-miss gags (Happy Gilmore, Billy Madison, etc.)

Sandler is the rare comedian who, although we know he is a multimillionaire, somehow is still able to connect with his audience and his regular guy, pre-success persona. Does Sandler feel pressured to churn out a product every year or so? Maybe. Grown Ups seemed like he decided to make a movie where he took a bunch of his friends on a vacation. It worked, because for the most part it was fun to go along for the ride.

Sandler has an undeniable sense of loyalty to his circle of friends. He has worked with many of the actors in Jack and Jill before, and you know he will again:

From Saturday Night Live - Norm MacDonald, Dana Carvey, Tim Meadows, David Spade

Nick Swardson (Just Go with It, Bedtime Stories, You Don't Mess with the Zohan, Click, I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry).

Actor turned director Dennis Dugan (Just Go with It, Grown Ups, You Don't Mess with the Zohan, I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry)



He obviously wants to work with people he likes and he has the money and power to make it happen.

I used to hate Adam Sander movies. I found Big Daddy and Little Nicky especially offensive. My ex-boyfriend would watch and laugh and I felt like I was watching something in another language. I just didn't get it. I liked some of his Saturday Night Live shtick and sing-song singing. But I was more than a tad perplexed when he became such a huge star. He definitely had a demographic and knew how to connect with them.

In more recent years either his demographic changed or I did, because I started catching his movies on cable and liked some of them. Bedtime Stories has some nice bits, especially with goofy Russell Brand. I really like The Wedding Singer - let's face it, he had me at Buscemi (another frequent collaborator). Having a kid has definitely changed how I view Sandler and his movies. My daughter absolutely loves Grown Ups and was bugging me to see Jack and Jill from the first time she saw a preview. I must not be the only parent dragged to the drag comedy. Jack and Jill  opened as the #2 movie at the box office, earning $26 million.

Kids and the families they drag along with them have become Sandler's core audience. The humor in his movies is about on par with the silly kid-coms my daughter loves to watch on the Disney channel. When we went to see Jack and Jill this weekend five out of six previews for upcoming family-oriented fare were animated movies. I love me some Miyazaki and Puss in Boots, but there are only so many sassy-voiced animated character films that I can sit through. Live-action movies for kids are becoming more and more rare. This weekend Jack and Jill was the only family film available if you wanted to go to the movies and hadn't already seen Puss in Boots.

So after Sandler decided, "Wouldn't it be funny if I played twins and one of them was a woman ..." what else did he come up with? Well, most critics are correct to point out not that much. There is only the wisp of a plot — clinging, cringe-worthy Jill has always embarrassed her brother, so he wants to figure out some way to get rid of her as soon as she arrives. Which of course won't happen. And in the end he finally realizes how much Jill means to him. That's it. Except, there's the little curveball of Al Pacino. Pacino plays ... Pacino, who has lost his mind on stage after a person loudly answered his cell phone during his performance of Richard III. Sandler has Pacino spoof most of his classic performances (Godfather, Scarface). This is definitely what is driving many critics mad, who might have looked the other way at merely a Sandler-in-drag movie. But to tarnish the actor who so many idolize — sacrilege! Never mind that Pacino's particular brand of ham has been over-the-top for quite some time. He approaches his role with relish and is responsible for most of the funniest bits in the film - which I'm sure Sandler was counting on.

But if Sandler and Pacino are more than in on the joke, than is it really one of the most terrible movies ever made or a dadaist exercise?

Dada definition via Wikipedia: ... a rejection of the prevailing standards in art through anti-art cultural works ... also anti-bourgeois and anarchist in nature. 

Have they made a critic-proof film by making a movie that isn't really a movie, but just an acting out of "what ifs?" Sandler and Pacino have described in interviews how strange it is for Pacino to even appear in the film, a fact that is built into the script, as commercial producer Jack tries to get famous actor Al Pacino to star in a Dunkin' Donuts commercial. Sandler plays up the improbability, the joke nature of the entire enterprise. Sandler doing drag is hardly believable — but he also has characters in the movie doubt Jill's female authenticity. As if that wasn't enough, in order to snare Pacino, Jack dresses up, even more unconvincingly as his sister, so at one point the movie has two drag Sandlers. One of the times I actually laughed out loud was when my daughter, who knew full well it was the guy from Grown Ups playing both parts, leaned over and whispered, "Jack doesn't even look like Jill!"

So is Adam Sandler, who doesn't make a very convincing woman — his Jill dresses in a very loud, Milton Berle-ish version of a woman, she isn't even contemporary — using drag in a misogynistic way? No matter how "ugly" Jill is supposed to be, her character is universally liked by characters in the story a lot more than Jack's. Jack may have the "perfect" family, but they are clearly bored by him. Shakespeare played with gender confusion, as did Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis in Some Like it  Hot and the characters in La Cage Aux Folles and its American version The Birdcage. But most modern drag in comedy, sketch comedies like Monty Python, Benny Hill, In Living Color, and Saturday Night Live, where Sandler first appeared as a Gap Girl, play up the disbelief factor, as Sandler does here.

Jack and Jill also has an abundance of cameos, which further lend an air of making-it-up-as-they-went-along to the proceedings.  Drew Carey, John McEnroe, Christie Brinkley, Shaquille O'Neal, Bruce Jenner, and Regis Philbin all show up for a few moments as well as a host of infomercial stars — Jared from Subway, Billy Blanks, and the ShamWow! guy. Rob Schnieder is listed as "Alan" on imdb but I didn't spot him. David Spade fights Johnny Depp for the most memorable cameo — Spade in drag vs. Depp wearing a Justin Bieber tee. It could be argued that Katie Holmes, who plays Jack's wife, is a cameo role, as she exists solely to applaud Jill and scold Jack.

So will all of the bad reviews change how Sandler & Co. do business? Not likely. Will we be seeing him in drag anytime soon? Not likely, either. And what about Pacino? Will anyone be able to watch one of his old movies with the same degree of awe? I think Michael Corleone, at least in the first two movies, is safe. But Tony Montana, a character that always seemed high camp to me, and not in a good way, has become even more of a caricature than ever before. Pacino in Jack and Jill does kind of make me want to see his Don Quixote ... Maybe we could look at the film as a long rehearsal for that role.

if i could talk to the animals

I probably first saw Kevin James in the Will Smith movie Hitch. It's a cute rom-com, and James was one of the brightest spots, as an awkward, but eager-to-love man who comes to "date doctor" Hitch (Smith) for help in winning the heart of the beautiful and famous Allegra (Amber Valletta).

I've since caught him in a variety of things — reruns of The King of Queens with the always-brilliant Jerry Stiller, and what has become one of my daughter's favorite movies, Paul Blart, Mall Cop. He is always appealing, even sometimes downright lovable, so I guess I have to count myself as a Kevin James fan.

Kate and Griffin trip the light fantastic

James is also a charter member of The Adam Sandler Movie Mafia, which includes friends and comedians Rob Schneider, Chris Rock and Steve Buscemi. In Grown Ups, it seemed like Sandler and James and Co. may have become a bit disillusioned with the making of movies and decided to just make a movie where a bunch of his friends go on vacation. As much as that's the shakiest of premises, it actually worked, because it was fun to go along for the ride with the guys and some equally funny gals, Maya Rudolph, Salma Hayek and Maria Bello. James brings that same "let's just have some fun" attitude to his movies. They know and we know that Sandler and James and Rock are multimillionaires, but somehow they are still able to connect with their audience and their regular-guy personas.

Zookeeper has been sold as a talking animals comedy for the kiddies, and it is — there is CGI and animatronics to make the zoo animals crack wise. But at its heart, Zookeeper is a rom-com. James has realized that romantic comedy is his niche and he's sticking to it. And he is usually a much more successful rom-com star than the more typical names that come up when thinking of the genre, like Jennifer Aniston and Anne Hathaway. Certainly his rom-coms have performed better at the box office. In the U.S. Hitch made over $177 million and Paul Blart made over $146 million. Aniston's Love Happens (22M+) and The Switch (27M+) and Hathaway's Love and Other Drugs (32M+) were lower performers. It's not a contest, and the ladies can sell tickets too, but James has proved that he brings strong rom-com box office.

In Zookeeper, James plays Griffin, the zookeeper at Boston's Franklin Park Zoo, who is beloved by everyone — his coworkers, his brother, and his charges, the animals at the zoo. Everyone loves him with one exception — Stephanie (Leslie Bibb), who he proposed to in an elaborate opening sequence complete with a sunset ride on a horse on the beach, where Griffin is emphatically and embarrassingly turned down. And then had to ride back across the beach, with fireworks blazing, a sobbing now ex-girlfriend, and a suddenly unnecessary serenading mariachi band.

Griffin has never gotten over Stephanie, and can't see his co-worker, the beautiful and intelligent Kate (Rosario Dawson), a vet and eagle expert, who is right under his nose. It's all standard rom-com stuff with a slight twist — the animals of the zoo have had enough of Griffin's schlumpy loser-in-love-and-life behavior and decide to coach him and help him win stephanie back. Of course that means that they also have to clue him in to the fact that they can talk.

Bernie and Griffin go out for a night on the town

The animals are voiced well, and the way they talk is technically well done, compared to earlier talking animal efforts like Look Who's Talking Now and Doctor Dolittle. Adam Sandler does a funny and almost completely unrecognizable voice as Donald the Capuchin Monkey. Other stand-outs include Sylvester Stallone and Cher as a lion couple and Jon Favreau and Faizon Love as two squabbling bears.

There are too many incidents of Griffin flying through the air to splat against something hard, but the kids in the audience all giggled, as did many of the adults. Watching Griffin and Kate try to make Stephanie jealous at his brother's wedding is one of the movie's high points, as they perform a spoofy Cirque du Soleil pas de deux. Also funny is Griffin's growing friendship with best bud Bernie (Nick Nolte), who happens to be a gorilla. Zookeeper is sweet and silly and fun. According to imdb, the next movie James has coming up is Here Comes the Boom. I bet there's some romance in it.