Category: Uncategorized

Today’s quick review: Big Daddy. Sonny Koufax (Adam Sandler), a slacker who never takes responsibility for anything, has a change of heart when he meets Julian (Cole Sprouse and Dylan Sprouse), the illegitimate son of Sonny’s roommate Kevin (Jon Stewart). With Kevin out of the country, Sonny decides to take care of the boy himself. But when Sonny tries to adopt the boy as his own, he faces an uphill legal battle.

Big Daddy is a comedy starring Adam Sandler as an underachiever who sets out to raise a five-year-old boy. Given the chance to care for a friend’s son, Sonny Koufax applies his own lax standards and lazy work ethic to the challenge of being a father. Big Daddy aims to be a funny and heartfelt story about a man finding meaning through parenting. However, hit-or-miss humor and shaky plot logic keep it from being a complete success.

Big Daddy is at its best when Sonny and Julian are just hanging out. Adam Sandler fits the role of Sonny perfectly, a playful and sarcastic man who defies social conventions. The shortcuts he takes when raising Julian lead to some fun results, and his offbeat approach to parenting give the movie a distinct flavor of comedy. For his part, Julian makes for a young and suitably impressionable partner for Sonny’s antics.

Big Daddy is on shakier ground when it tries to be meaningful. In theory, Big Daddy has the perfect setup for a heartfelt story about a man learning to care about others. But in practice, the story is too poorly motivated to hold much water. Sonny decides to adopt Julian on a whim, and this fact undermines the movie’s later attempts to make their relationship matter. The result is a story with less heart than it wants to have.

Big Daddy is a fine pick for fans of Adam Sandler or anyone in the mood for a kid-themed comedy. Fun character interactions and a decent premise make the movie a worthwhile watch, but its emotional arc leaves something to be desired. Give it a shot if you’re looking for some light laughs. Skip it if you are looking for subtle character work or a fulfilling story.

For a heartfelt adventure about a boy getting used to his new home, try Secondhand Lions. For a more dramatic movie about an irresponsible man learning to take care of a child, try Hard Surfaces. For a stylized action comedy about a slacker picking up the pieces of his life, try Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.

[6.4 out of 10 on IMDB](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0142342/). I give it a 6.0 to 6.5 for decent comedy that makes a few missteps.

Today’s quick review: Mr. Deeds. Longfellow Deeds (Adam Sandler), a regular guy from rural New Hampshire, becomes the most famous man in New York when he inherits $40 billion from his wealthy uncle. As Chuck Cedar (Peter Gallagher) pushes Deeds to sell his shares so he can break up the company, Deeds falls in love with Babe Bennett (Winona Ryder), an undercover reporter taking advantage of his small-town naivety.

Mr. Deeds is a comedy about an ordinary man who inherits a massive fortune. Faced with more money than he can spend, the adulation of the New York elite, and the scrutiny of a manipulative media, Deeds refuses to let anything change his honest, homey attitude and generous spirit. Mr. Deeds is a light take on money, love, and what really matters in life. Decent humor and a fine premise are held back by a restricted bag of comedic tricks.

Mr. Deeds has one angle that it plays up almost continuously: the contrast between Deeds’ genuine, caring personality and the selfishness of the people trying to exploit him. The dynamic works well on paper, especially when Deeds’ honesty begins to rub off on Babe, but the repetition hurts it in practice. Deeds comes off as static rather than someone who can learn and grow, and the pettiness of his enemies feels contrived.

Mr. Deeds also suffers from a particular issue where the main premise barely seems to matter. Deeds’ inheritance is a plot device that gives him the chance to interact with businessmen, reporters, and celebrities. There is very little in the way of extravagant spending, unconventional priorities, or other comedy that exploits Deeds’ wealth. Instead, Adam Sandler plies his personal style of humor with Deeds’ money vaguely in the background.

The end result is a comedy that will earn some laughs from the right viewer but which misses the opportunity to run with its premise. Mr. Deeds is a plain but amusing watch for anyone who enjoys Adam Sandler’s style of humor and classic themes of wealth versus character. But the movie only ever seems halfway interested in its premise, so a lot of its potential for both story and comedy falls by the wayside.

For another comedy about a change in station, try Trading Places. For a colorful comedy glorifying an ordinary man, try Joe Dirt. For a more eclectic comedy with Adam Sandler in a similar role, try Hubie Halloween.

[5.8 out of 10 on IMDB](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0280590/). I give it a 6.0 to 6.5 for decent humor with missed potential.

Today’s quick review: Click. No matter how hard he works, Mike Newman (Adam Sandler) doesn’t have the time to both impress his boss (David Hasselhoff) and pay attention to his family, including his wife Donna (Kate Beckinsale) and their children (Joseph Castanon and Tatum McCann). But Mike gets a shot at having it all when Morty (Christopher Walken), a mysterious stranger, gives him a universal remote that can control the flow of his life.

Click is a fantasy comedy about a working father who receives a device that finally lets him balance his career and his home life. Click explores the ramifications of a truly universal remote, following Mike as he uses the device to pause, fastforward, and rewind the key moments of his life. What begins as a goofy comedy about a man exploiting his newfound power soon grows into a more meaningful story about what matters in life.

Click runs with its premise in a way that few other movies do. Mike spends the early part of the movie abusing the remote in every way possible, from skipping past predictable arguments to using the remote’s language settings to eavesdrop on his Japanese business partners. But Click soon goes even farther, showing the consequences of the remote on Mike’s work, life, and marriage as he comes to rely too much on its power.

The result is a unique hybrid: a generally silly comedy that has a backbone of meaningful speculation. Click never leaves behind its humorous roots, but it ventures into more serious territory that takes its premise to the next level. Click is not pristine or artfully constructed, but its blend of coarse humor and human themes manages to get the job done.

Many viewers will find Click a little too strange, either in terms of its humor or the farther leaps its story takes. But for those willing to take the movie on its own terms, Click is a humble yet moving story that combines breezy humor with deeper themes. Give it a shot when you are in the mood for a comedy that offers a little bit more.

For another comedy about a man gifted extraordinary powers, try Bruce Almighty. For a bittersweet drama about the course of a man’s life, try Stranger than Fiction. For a time travel comedy with even richer themes, try Groundhog Day. For a science fiction movie with a similarly retrospective tone, try Bicentennial Man. For a classic tale that deals with similar themes, try one of the adaptations of A Christmas Carol.

[6.4 out of 10 on IMDB](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0389860/). I give it a 7.0 for an original story drawn in broad but effective strokes.

Today’s quick review: Bedtime Stories. Skeeter Bronson (Adam Sandler), an underappreciated hotel handyman, gets in touch with his creative side when his sister Wendy (Courteney Cox) asks him to take care of her son Patrick (Jonathan Morgan Heit) and daughter Bobbi (Laura Ann Kesling) for the week. Skeeter entertains the children by telling them imaginative bedtime stories, only to find their events coming true in his own life.

Bedtime Stories is a family comedy adventure about a man making up stories for his niece and nephew. Adam Sandler stars as Skeeter, once promised the chance to run Barry Nottingham’s (Richard Griffiths) hotel and now reduced to running errands for Kendall (Guy Pearce), Nottingham’s favorite. Bedtime Stories injects some fantasy into Skeeter’s mundane life as the stories he makes up start to come true, giving him a way out of his predicament.

Bedtime Stories does not have a clear audience in mind. The real-world setup is geared towards adults, with a plot that involves Wendy losing her job, Skeeter trying to impress his boss, and all kinds of subtler disappointments in life. At the same time, Skeeter’s bedtime stories are clearly meant to appeal to kids, flights of fancy with minimal plot that are there to add some color and wonder to the challenges Skeeter faces in real life.

The result is a movie that never figures out what it is meant to be. The sense of magic is hobbled by the fact that Skeeter’s fantasy world serves as an outlet for his job troubles rather than standing on its own. The more realistic themes the movie tries to explore are undercut by the childlike plot logic and reliance on random events. As such, an otherwise charming premise gets lost in the noise.

Bedtime Stories works better on paper than it does in practice. Fans of Adam Sandler’s down-to-earth style of comedy will get something out of it, as will viewers who like the crossover between mundane reality and flights of fancy. But even though it has the makings of a tender, imaginative story, Bedtime Stories’ unclear vision keeps it from having the full effect it wants to.

For a family comedy with a similar setup, check out Mr. Popper’s Penguins. For a more fulfilling adventure about a daydreamer, check out The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. For a more enduring bedtime story, try The Princess Bride. For a more inventive exploration of the power of story, try The Adventures of Baron Munchausen.

[6.0 out of 10 on IMDB](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0960731/). I give it a 5.5 for a charming but misplaced premise.

Today’s quick review: Hubie Halloween. Ever since childhood, Hubie Dubois (Adam Sandler) has been the laughingstock of Salem, Massachusetts. Now a grown man living with his mother (June Squibb), Hubie has taken it upon himself to oversee safety at the town’s annual Halloween festivities. But this year Halloween takes a turn for the worse when people start to go missing, forcing Hubie to face his fears so he can protect his town.

Hubie Halloween is a comedy about a dimwitted but altruistic man who sets out to solve a series of disappearances on Halloween night. Adam Sandler stars as Hubie Dubois, whose odd mannerisms make him a natural target for the bullying residents of Salem. Hubie Halloween has offbeat characters, a star-studded cast, and a loose underdog plot, giving it a particular flavor of comedy that not everyone will enjoy.

Hubie Halloween embraces the ridiculous. Hubie Dubois is not just a misfit but a caricature, a man with no social skills and minimal self-awareness. The townsfolk are just as over-the-top in their casual torment of Hubie, played by comedians such as Kevin James, Ray Liotta, Steve Buscemi, and Rob Schneider. The movie backs this all with a low-stakes mystery over just what has been happening in Salem on Halloween night.

The end result is a comedy that swings wide of the mark. Hubie Halloween comes on strong with its exaggerated characters and raunchy humor, and these get in the way of what heart the story has. At the same time, the movie has fun with a silly world, a passionate cast, and a load of red herrings, making it a fine pick for anyone who can get into the right spirit. Approach with caution, and give it a shot if you are a fan of Sandler’s humor.

For a more family-friendly comedy set in Salem on Halloween night, try Hocus Pocus. For a horror comedy about a group of outcasts stepping up to save the day, check out Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse. For another offbeat comedy about the unassuming man who is the heart of a small town, try Pottersville.

[5.2 out of 10 on IMDB](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10682266/). I give it a 6.5 for uneven but enjoyable comedy.

Today’s quick review: Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation. Convinced that her father Dracula (Adam Sandler) needs a vacation, Mavis (Selena Gomez) takes him on a luxury cruise along with her husband Jonathan (Andy Samberg), their son Dennis (Asher Blinkoff), and a few close friends. But the unexpected happens when Dracula falls in love with Ericka (Kathryn Hahn), the cruise ship captain, who secretly wants to kill all monsters.

Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation is an animated family comedy about the continuing domestic adventures of Dracula and his family. Summer Vacation takes Dracula, Mavis, Jonathan, and Dennis away from Transylvania and onto a cruise ship where Dracula reconsiders dating after over a century. The movie features the same light, goofy humor as its predecessors, but an overflowing cast and a more convoluted plot make it a slightly harder pitch.

Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation falls into the same easy rhythm as the previous entries in the series. The cruise ship offers up just enough new opportunities to keep the physical humor fresh, the character interactions are still crisp and entertaining, and the movie takes pains to animate its cast in offbeat ways. For bread-and-butter family comedy, Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation remains a solid pick.

Still, Summer Vacation is not as immediately appealing as its predecessors. The premise of Dracula looking for love leads to some decent comedy, but it is not as essential as the family conflicts in Hotel Transylvania and its sequel. The chemistry betweeen Dracula and Ericka never clicks the way it is supposed to, and an ever-growing supporting cast means that even important characters like Jonathan tend to get short shrift.

Give Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation a shot when you are in the mood for something fun, spirited, and none too serious. Fans of the series will like what the movie has to offer, from its cast to its story, while newcomers will find it a little crowded but not too difficult to follow. However, anyone looking for a carefully constructed story or a clean, succinct premise will want to approach with caution.

For a more enduring take on related characters, try Young Frankenstein. For an even more energetic, sharply written animated kids’ comedy, check out The Lego Movie.

[6.3 out of 10 on IMDB](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5220122/). I give it a 6.5 for fun humor and a story that lacks the clarity of its predecessors.

Today’s quick review: Hotel Transylvania 2. Now that Mavis (Selena Gomez) and Jonathan (Andy Samberg) are married, Count Dracula (Adam Sandler) faces a new challenge: making sure his grandson Dennis (Asher Blinkoff) grows up to be a monster just like him. But as the boy’s fifth birthday approaches with no sign of fangs, Dracula and his friends hatch a plan to awaken Dennis’ monster powers by going behind Mavis’ back.

Hotel Transylvania 2 is an animated family comedy that chronicles the next phase in Dracula’s family life. Although his grandson Dennis loves life in Transylvania, Dracula risks losing the boy to the siren call of a normal human life in California. Hotel Transylvania 2 continues in the vein of the first movie, combining monster humor with an ensemble cast and a family-oriented plot. The result is another fun but insubstantial romp.

Hotel Transylvania 2 is a natural progression of the first movie. Dracula deals with the possibility that his grandson may not be the vampire he hoped, while Mavis questions whether her family belongs in the monster world or the human world. Dracula’s attempts to reconnect with his monstrous roots give the movie another easy source of humor, and the movie’s slapstick remains light and inventive.

Still, Hotel Transylvania 2 is not quite as fresh as the original. The beats of the plot are a little more predictable, the reliance on pop culture is more overt, and the monster humor is not quite as organic. None of these issues will tarnish the movie for anyone who enjoyed the original; by and large, the sequel is a capable iteration on roughly the same formula. But critical viewers will find aspects of the sequel to nitpick.

Once again, Hotel Transylvania 2 is a solid pick for anyone looking for a light, energetic, and family-friendly comedy. The movie does not pack any real surprises, but its subject matter continues to be a sweet spot for physical humor and low-stakes family conflict alike. Check out Hotel Transylvania 2 if you enjoyed the first or just need something unabashedly light. Those looking for more substantial comedy may want to pass.

For a family animated comedy in the same vein, try Monsters vs. Aliens. For a family fantasy comedy that deals with similar themes, try Shrek 2.

[6.7 out of 10 on IMDB](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2510894/). I give it a 6.5 for decent humor and a fruitful premise.

Today’s quick review: Hotel Transylvania. Over a century ago, Count Dracula (Adam Sandler) founded Hotel Transylvania as a safe haven for monsters the world over, especially for his daughter Mavis (Selena Gomez). But when Mavis wants to leave home for her 118th birthday, Dracula does everything in his power to convince her the outside world is a scary place with the reluctant help of Jonathan (Andy Samberg), a human backpacker passing through.

Hotel Transylvania is an animated family comedy that recasts Dracula as an overprotective father. Still scarred by the loss of his wife at the hands of the humans years before, Dracula has channeled his vampiric powers into creating a resort that is perfectly safe—and perfectly boring—until a young human teaches him to loosen up. Hotel Transylvania gets some good mileage out of this premise, resulting in a tame but enjoyable family comedy.

Hotel Transylvania’s premise gives it plenty to work with. The monstrous nature of Dracula’s guests is a ready source of comedy, the accumulated lore of the monsters lets the movie play with pop culture and monster conventions, and the core plot point of Dracula keeping his daughter overly sheltered is a solid backbone for the movie. The gags are backed by a solid voice cast that includes Kevin James, Steve Buscemi, David Spade, and CeeLo Green.

The main sticking point for Hotel Transylvania is how on-the-nose it is. Everything from the setting to the story is designed to fill a specific role in a specific way, usually sacrificing broader world-building in favor of quick gags. Viewers who are just in the movie for light, family-friendly entertainment will not mind its superficial bent, but exacting viewers will find that its creativity dries up in a few places.

Hotel Transylvania skews formulaic, but the combination of a rich premise, a talented cast, and charming comedy makes it a worthwhile watch for those interested in what it has to offer. Give it a shot when you are in the mood for something unabashedly silly. For a more robust parody of classic horror, try Young Frankenstein. For an animated family adventure in a similar vein, try Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs or Spies in Disguise.

[7.1 out of 10 on IMDB](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0837562/). I give it a 6.5 to 7.0 for a basic but charming premise.

Today’s quick review: Hocus Pocus. Max Dennison (Omri Katz), a teenage boy living in Salem, Massachusetts, accidentally gets involved in local history when he awakens Winifred (Bette Midler), Sarah (Sarah Jessica Parker), and Mary (Kathy Najimy), a trio of witches who once tormented the town. Now Max, his sister Dani (Thora Birch), and his classmate Allison (Vinessa Shaw) have until dawn to stop the witches before their stay becomes permanent.

Hocus Pocus is a family fantasy comedy adventure about a group of children who accidentally resurrect a trio of witches on Halloween night. Through a series of mishaps, the Sanderson sisters get a crash course in the 20th century while Max and his friends scramble to find a way to stop them. Hocus Pocus is a fun and imaginative romp that fully embraces witchcraft, Halloween, and the mischief the right children can get up to on the wrong night.

Hocus Pocus has an energy that is hard to come by. The movie has no pretensions but instead embraces every aspect of its story, from the faux-Colonial history of the Sanderson sisters to the lighter Halloween traditions of modern Salem. The movie never hesitates to indulge in comedy, and it has a knack for picking seemingly random jokes that nevertheless hit the mark. The result is a romp that plays rather adroitly by its own rules.

At the same time, Hocus Pocus has heart. The story is loose, a thin excuse for classic witches to interact with the modern world, but the stakes are real enough to matter. The characters are likewise thin, but they are chosen well, and even the basic interactions between the witches and the kids are a treat to watch. Hocus Pocus is not high art, but it has the instincts it needs to make the audience care.

Hocus Pocus will not be for everyone. It has a tendency to make up the rules as it goes along, it unabashedly prioritizes comedy over plot, and it is missing the careful scripting and character work seen in other family movies. But for anyone willing to roll with the punches, Hocus Pocus is a passionate and surprisingly creative movie that is well worth checking out.

For a family adventure with a similar spirit, try The Goonies. For a more mature but similarly adventurous horror comedy, try The Lost Boys. For straight fantasy adventure with some of the same charm, try The Princess Bride or Stardust. For a more surreal family fantasy about witches, try The Witches.

[6.9 out of 10 on IMDB](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107120/). I give it a 7.0 for energetic comedy with considerable upshot for the right viewer.

Today’s quick review: The Witches. After a boy (Jahzir Bruno) loses his parents in a car accident, he goes to live with his grandmother (Octavia Spencer) in Alabama, where she slowly teaches him to engage with life again. But when the boy has a close call with a witch, his grandmother takes him to a luxury hotel to get away, only for the boy to stumble upon a convention of witches led by the Grand High Witch (Anne Hathaway) herself.

The Witches is a family fantasy adventure loosely based on the book by Roald Dahl. The Witches follows the evil-fighting duo of a little boy and his grandmother as they take on a hotel full of child-hating witches. The movie has roughly the same beats as both its source material and the previous film adaptation. However, a slightly more streamlined story makes The Witches easier to follow, if still quite surreal overall.

The Witches takes advantage of modern CGI for an updated look for its witches. Disguised in wigs, gloves, and makeup, the witches conceal snake-like features which they use to prey on children. The look is suitably unsettling, and it allows Anne Hathaway and the other actresses indulge in some macabre slapstick. At the same time, the movie places a lot of weight on the witches’ true form, a reveal that only takes it so far.

As far as story is concerned, The Witches does not have much substance, but it does a better job with its scaffolding than the previous adaptation. The movie manages to work in all the exposition it needs to without feeling entirely unnatural, and the struggle with the Grand High Witch is laid out well enough to feel like an actual conflict. Still, the story is stunted and oddly scoped compared to similar movies, making it an odd choice.

How much you get out of The Witches will come down to taste. Fans of the original Roald Dahl idiosyncrasies will prefer the Anjelica Huston version, which worries less about story and more about its zany conflict. Fans who prefer more grounded conflicts will appreciate the remake’s attempts at keeping everything in perspective. But in any case, The Witches is a surreal movie that will only appeal to specific viewers.

For a Halloween fantasy comedy with a better sense of proportion, try Hocus Pocus.

[5.3 out of 10 on IMDB](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0805647/). I give it a 6.0 to 6.5 for a creative but truly far-fetched story.