Review of Jack and Jill (2011) by James W — 10 May 2014

Congratulations Adam Sandler for sweeping all the Razzies for Jack and Jill, one of the most critically bashed movies of our time. However, this monumental garbage as some are calling it raked in a tonne at the box office, as do most of Adam Sandler films. This proves people do go and see his movies despite such rotten ratings. Here's the question, how come I enjoyed this?

Adam Sandler is stuck in the same role, playing a very wealthy guy with a well paid job married to a world class hotty with great kids and an enormous house. The hitch: Sandler's world as Jack is about to come falling down when his twin sister Jill comes to stay for the holiday, will he survive or will she drive him to insanity? Well, that's what some viewers have been driven to watching this. This is pedestrian storytelling at it's weakest, someone green-lit this weak story and I'd love to know what their thought process was back then.

Before I push this film down ever more, it is kid friendly and will entertain young ones, and maybe even some other viewers desperately looking for something else cause they've exhausted their movie library, and this one is a stunner on Blu-Ray. There are some genuinely laugh out loud moments, seeing Sandler dressed in drag when he turns around at the airport for the first time, the slapstick is well timed and adequately placed throughout, and the best scene is the family picnic where Jill is invited to a Spanish family gathering. There's a general upbeat light hearted feeling, but at times it's dampened down by the aggressive overbearing neediness from some of the characters.

Dennis Dugan's direction is weak, borderline lacking any sort of creativity or spark to set him apart, his camerawork consists of pans that move shortly after the characters do, you feel like a viewer in a live sitcom recording, almost detached from what's going on, yet the stars do their absolute best with what they've been given. Katie Holmes is sweet, attractive and strong as the mother and wife, trying to ground the family when Jill is around. Adam Sandler's need to don the drag is rather exhausting, he's reserved and calm as Jack and an everyman in some ways, but when he's Jill he tends to overdo it, screaming and yelping at every chance, and Al Pacino feels forced into most scenes and he's awkward, especially when he pokes the ceiling fan and calls it something else.

Despite a lot of forced desperate gags, stale direction and dialogue plus a lack of craft, Jack And Jill has some moments, it's far better than Grown Ups, better than That's My Boy and manages to reel some big laughs in the most surprising areas, but it really is worthy of the Razzies.