Grown Ups Movie Review

By Anne Brodie Jun 25, 2010, 23:47 GMT

Five friends reunite after 30 years for a fourth of July holiday weekend. A comedy with Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Chris Rock, Rob Schneider, and David Spade, tells the story of five childhood friends who pick up where they left off. ...more

Grown Ups, a family summer comedy from Adam Sandler’s Happy Madison production company, features a talented comedic cast of his friends.  Sandler leads Chris Rock, David Spade, Myra Rudolph, Maria Bello, Salma Hayek, Kevin James, and Rob Schneider (in no particular order). 

The story of a group of friends who bring their families to a lake house for the funeral of their beloved high school basketball coach appeals on many levels – it celebrates family, summer vacation, barbeques, sharing memories, and meeting new people.  The joys of nature, friendship, familial love, and getting away from it all - all the while living in a multi million dollar lake house.

With all that potential it’s shame that the result is tepid, at best.  It’s criminal that Chris Rock is literally cut off at the knees in this unfunny, anti-witty sloppy and sanitised exercise.  It is a family oriented film to be sure, but the presence of these particular comics suggests something spicier and at least amusing.  Sophisticatd writing can entertain adults and kids at the same time and no one’s the worse for wear.  Look at Pixar and Disney.

The height of hilarity is supposedly reached when James is unable to achieve lift off for water skiing because he’s so fat.  Steve Buscemi’s character slams into a building because he can’t get out of his zip line.  And he slams into things walking around in a full body cast, naturally.  James does a complicated slam into the rocks when he fails to let go of the rope he’s swinging over the lake.  Original, eh?

One of Grown Ups’ biggest conceits is mocking the old.  Schneider’s character is married to an old woman who drinks laxatives while the rest drink beer, see there this is going?  Predictable jokes are slathered on shamelessly and wear thin fast.  Rock’s characters mother-in-law is also old, and has huge unsightly bunions and she farts a lot.  Hilarity.  Is this what audiences want?  When Eddie Murphy does it, its funny, here it sits like a big rock on a daisy.

James’ character’s four year old son is too old to be nursing, but he is.  That’s more ewwww than funny and of course, predictably, the milks squirt and Maya Rudolph’s character decides it tastes good after licking it off her face.  The sexpot daughters of Schneider‘s character arrive at the lake house, wearing cut off jeans that end Lord knows where, and bend over a stalled car.  The stars ogle and that’s meant to be side splittingly, raucously funny.

Nothing is funny.

Strangely enough, nothing icky happens to Salma Hayek who plays Sandler’s wife.  And she gets to wear gorgeous clothes and perfect hair because she is en route to Milan to launch her fashion line.  Hayek has more than amply displayed her comedic gifts on 30 Rock so why doesn’t Sandler let her rip?

Grown Ups is a dismal waste of celluloid and the talents of its stars.  How can it go so wrong with all its potential?  It’s sleep inducing, boring, lacking in originality and a deep disappointment for Sandler’s fans. 

35mm comedy
Written by Adam Sandler, Fred Wolf
Directed by Dennis Dugan
Opens: June 25
Runtime: 102 minutes
Country: USA
Language: English