Review of Grown Ups (2010) by Shiira — 12 Aug 2010

For those who love Adam Sandler comedies, the star of "Happy Gilmore" and "Big Daddy" salutes you. Sandler, who every now and then, takes a time out from his string of highly successful lowbrow comedies in order to challenge himself with the occasional mature celluloidal venture, presides over "Grown-Ups" like some curator of his own particular brand of modern humor, as if "Punchdrunk Love", "Spanglish", and especially "Funny People", never happened.

Whereas in "Funny People" the prevailing subtext in the 2009 Judd Apatow film seemed to indicate a commercially successful, but critically panned actor's disenchantment with his filmography, such possible real-life feelings about the demerits of aiming for the lowest common denominator over the course of one's career, goes undetected in "Grown-Ups", in which Sandler, once again, plays a Hollywood professional(this time, a producer).

It's as if Sandler wants to assure his fanbase that he takes pride in what made him famous, so it's goodbye to self-introspection, and hello to bits about breast milk and pee. The dialogue, at times, have an improvisational quality, as Sandler and his buddies riff without the slightest realization that they're not the least bit funny.

"Grown-Ups" certainly doesn't act grown-up when women are concerned, in which the Dennis Spade character describes the brink of a French kiss between Rob Schneider and his post-menopausal older lady as being "grodie".

Spade, along with the other similarly-aged men, are allowed to leer at Schneider's impossibly sexy girls, while shuddering at the third daughter, who gets laughs, simply by being unattractive. "Grown-Ups" thinks it can get away with such lewd treatment of women, since the Hallie Berry character, who seems poised to be a stuck-up **** is not, which gives the filmmaker some leeway to be misogynistic.