Immature Hijinx – A Review of Grown Ups 2
Title: Grown Ups 2
Production Company: Columbia Pictures
Run Time: 101 minutes
Rated: PG-13
Director: Dennis Dugan
Stars: Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Chris Rock, David Spade
Summary: Perhaps the most inappropriately named film of 2013. The sophomoric humor that pervades this anti-classic may make you laugh one or twice, but about the 150th time the same joke is repeated, it gets a little old.
I knew what to expect the moment I walked into the theater and sat down. After all, this IS an Adam Sandler movie.
I actually expected to laugh maybe once or twice throughout the film. I expected the film was going to be chock full of sophomoric humor and bodily function hijinx. I expected that some scenes were going to deliberately attempt to gross me out.
Five minutes into the film I was proven 100% right on all counts. This movie, like most of today’s dumbed down comedies is awful.
I mean, how many burp-snart jokes can you cram into one movie? And if you don’t understand the reference, please consider yourself saved from the mediocrity that this movie’s writers obviously classify the level of fans who may enjoy this stuff.
This movie does sport an A-list of comedic talents including Sandler, Kevin James, David Spade and Chris Rock who all return from the first installment to settle down in their original home town. Each of them will find difficulties in connecting with the other characters who share their lives.
I can’t imagine why.
Perhaps the most inappropriate joke this movie sports is the testosterone laden rivalry between our four heroes and the rowdy fraternity boys who have laid claim to their diving rock near an old swimming hole.
The outcome of the encounter is not for the faint of heart. Nor is the proverbial payback at the end of the film. Fans of Twilight’s Taylor Lautner beware – this doesn’t end well for him. Overall, this film is just one bad accident of a scene after another.
The only saving grace here, though, is the integrity of the characters as they interact with one another. Sandler is famous for keeping sincere dynamics between the stars involved in all of his best movies. And the underlying message is hard to ignore, as long as it doesn’t sneak by the sophomorically mindless fans who undoubtedly will ignore this review and see the movie anyway.
For the rest of you, though, keep your wallet in your pocket and only see this movie when it airs on network television in 100 years. And if you’re really smart, you’ll mute the film and watch the commercials.
I give Grown Ups 2 two out of five stars.