Review of Grandma's Boy (2006) by Zzz90210 — 17 Mar 2012

This is one of my favourite movies of all time. Period._______________More than that, it is my chicken soup. When I am feeling crap or depressed my pickup is either throwing on some heavy metal or watching this movie.

It never fails to get a chuckle out. I have lost count of how many times I have watched it, but I am fairly certain it is my most watched movie by far - massive replay value._______________That being said, I understand why it did not get great critical reviews.

It is full of stoner humour and in-jokes that only geeks can appreciate. It uses stereotypes of computer geeks and computer-game humor that geeks find hilarious - but leave everyone else going WTF? Some say this is a stoner movie, and to an extent it is - but the real heart of this movie is geek and computer gaming culture and humour.

And if you dont get that - and most people dont, especially stodgy old movie critics - then you simply are not going to appreciate this movie for what it is. Read the critical reviews and you can see this for yourself.

_______________Is it perfect? Well no, but what is? The main point is that this movie gets all the big things right. The acting is great. The story is great. The humour is amazing. It has boobies at the end.

And the things it gets wrong are so small and inconsequential you wont even notice them, and these flaws ultimately just reinforce the overall personality of the movie, rather than serve as serious detractions.

_______________I feel I have to comment on the story in particular. I have read so many reviews, even positive ones, that basically say "yeah was pretty funny but didnt have much of a story".

Let me say load and clear that the story behind this movie was AMAZING. You have a guy who hits rock bottom, moves in with his grandma and her friends, teams up with a band of losers to form an unlikely alliance against an evil (ok evil is a bit harsh) nemesis who is as comedic as he is sinister, manages to overcome obstacles to defeat his opponents and ultimately win the battle *and* scores the girl at the end.

All while managing to have a bunch of fun and laughs along the way. It was tight. I suspect that people who found this movie funny but thought there was no story only saw the shallow slapstick humour and simply missed the deeper humour and culture that was present.

I am guessing they are the same people who though Adam Sandler should have been in it (praise the Lord he wasn't)._______________What more to say? All I can think of is I am so glad this film is hated by critics.

It just shows how well it serves its target audience. If some old fart writing for a newspaper column found this movie funny, I am sure I would have only found it half so. It is so rare that a movie is made without compromise - without trying to appease the critics or buy mass market appeal - but when they are, gems can be born.

And that is what this movie is - a gem._______________Over and out.