Grown Ups

About as shallow as a puddle

Lover: Taken from IMDB
“There is nothing wrong about this film... there is nothing right about it either. It's just another Adam Sandler feel-good movie, and if you like these (I certainly do), you will like this movie too. If you hate them for a lack of plot or the shallowness of the jokes, you won't. I just know I laughed a numerous amount of times, and I felt good after having watched it. And no, I'm not a stupid guy; I like a good plot, good acting, directing and well-thought-of puns as does the next guy. But there are times when you feel like watching a complicated drama, and there are times when you feel like watching a no-brainer. This is definitely a no-brainer, which will make you feel good from time to time. That's why Adam Sandler makes these movies, and that's why they keep doing so well.They will make you feel good :) “

I would agree if they hadn’t tried to shoe horn in some ‘We’ve been on a journey and all learnt something’ scene in at the end.

Hater: Taken from IMDB
“How is this crap at 5.9? one of the worst movies that I have ever seen. Now before you say that I have no sense of humor, I will say that I'm a big fan of some of Adam Sandler, Kevin James, and Chris Rock. David Spade and Rob Schnider? Not so much. I loved The Waterboy, Hitch, Madagascar, Funny People, Dogma, Good Hair, The King of queens, Spanglish, Punch drunk love, happy gilmore etc. So I do like these actors. That's why I was so disappointed. This films a mess. No plot. No characters. The jokes are dull as hell. The humor is so lowbrow. The script is so flat. The actors do their best with what they're given, but it's not enough. and to make things worse, the film is just boring. From the very beginning, I was checking the time. I maybe chuckled twice. That's not enough. These guys probably had a lot of fun making this movie and they probably thought that they were being really funny, but I just didn't feel the same way. I was bored, irritated, and disappointed. “

There are moments in the film that are funnier than this critic has made out, clearly adlibbed scenes and sketches straight from the actors heads work well enough to force out a giggle, or two.

What I thought:
It would appear that Adam Sandlers man child comedy is infectious, the man who brought us such gems as Billy Madison, Big Daddy, Waterboy and dare I say Little Nicky is the master. The master of acting like a moron and for the most part *cough* Little Nicky*cough* get away with it. In Grown Ups he has found the actors born for his sense of humour, even the sometime hard edged comedy of Chris Rock is dumbed down. It could work for fans of this comedy but are there too many man children in this clearly self indulgent tripe?

In short yes, there are moments when they are in a big group that are so random and funny you can tell it was ad lib. These are the funniest moments and if they were video shorts or a larger part a sketch show or something they would be funny. However they don’t tie up all the other mundane moments of supposed family drama and the usual silly slapstick / gross out comedy that plagues Sandlers films.

It’s disappointing really, had the film been like the scenes of improvisation it would have at least been a very funny journey if not one with any meaning. That brings me to my biggest gripe with the film, the script doesn’t really go anywhere in particular with the characters, you can sort of tell they were trying to get some depth into them and it never works. When at the end all the characters are gathered at the lake having the tender heartfelt moments you wonder where the hell it came from, It’s as if they got to the end having too much fun taking the piss out of eachother and all of a sudden thought “hey wait, what have our characters learnt from this journey?”.

Hopefully that this kind of comedy is old for the actors doing it, move onwards and upwards because you’ve all done and been in better.

Available on Blu Ray and DVD
Running Time: 102 mins
Cert: 12