Review of The Do-Over (2016) by Kapten V — 01 Sep 2017

Two down-on-their-luck guys (Adam Sandler, David Spade) fake their own deaths and start over with new identities, only to find the people they're pretending to be are in even deeper trouble.

Also playing, Paula Patton, Kathryn Hahn, Nick Swardson, Luis Guzmán, Michael Chiklis, Torsten Voges, Stan Ellsworth and the others.

A curiously unusual comedy for Sandler, but not in a bad way like Sandy Wexler". It has its fair share of dirty jokes but relies even more on unexpected turns, absurdist and black humor, and... action. Oh yeah, if there ever was Sandler action movie, this is it.

Watching the man in this new mode is kind of exciting. He's not a born action star but he's not actually that bad either. At least it makes his character more intriguing than usual. He feels unpredictable - you can't figure out whether he is more of a bad or good guy here.

Spade is a great sidekick as always, which is probably why most of his roles happen in Sandler's movies these days. But he feels so bland by himself that it's difficult to imagine him starring anywhere again.

Some of Sandler's regulars are here - Swardson, Guzmán, Spade - but the more colorful smaller appearances belong to Stan Ellsworth as Dakota and Torsten Voges as the Gymnast.

The screenplay is weak as usual, more like a loosely tied bunch of sketches, but this is one of those times where it more or less works for the result's favor.

It helps to give The Do-Over" this rare tone where you can't predict where the story's heading more of the time. It's rare for Sandler's comedy at least. If there were only less twists in the final third, they get a bit exhausing...

All in all, I enjoyed it more than many recent Sandler comedies, at least ones from this decade. Looking bad, now it's kind of surprising that he has never tried to do action before. The result isn surprisingly watchable. Not that I would like to see him do this kind of stuff all the time.

To-Do List" is the second out of Sandler's four-movie deal with Netflix, 2015's The Ridiculous 6" being the first and this year's Sandy Wexler" being the third. Let's wait for 2018's "The Week Of" now...