20 years ago, a movie starring Adam Sandler, Catherine Bell and David Spade would be plastered all over billboards and the trailer would be shown 50 times during an episode of Saturday Night Live. Well, fast forward 2 decades and it is basically the same movie – a movie from a decade where Adam Sander made funny movies and David Spade was a star (Catherine Bell, maybe the best actor of the cast really only has a cameo, so we can ignore her). However I was only told about this film from a friend, and I had no interest in it until he said it was good.
So the story has Spade (I won't use the character names because Sandler for all intents and purposes is Sandler and Spade is Spade, so why bother) living a unfulfilling life working at a bank and in a loveless marriage only to meet up with Sandler during a school reunion. Very soon Sandler fakes their deaths and hilarity ensues.
So it's Sandler doing Sandler, but it is good Sandler, so if you are 40 and remember his glory days of Happy Gilmore, this is a good reminisce. If you only remember Little Nicky, well here is a reminder of why he is a big Hollywood star. Spade has always been a very strong strait man, and the 2 actors do have chemistry. There are the obligatory cast of crazy side characters, who although maybe not classic, are definitely funny. The main villain should get s special nod here.
The movie has the Sandler style of dick and fart jokes, but they are more funny and less tasteless than I have seen in recently. The plot is silly, but of course it is supposed to be. However unlike some of his more recent movies such as Grown-ups which forgo plot for what amounts to set pieces of 'comedy', the movie does keep the viewer interested in what is going on.
To say that Sander is 'back' might be taking it too far, to say he has made a very respectable, funny movie that reminds me why he was a bright star of comedy for almost a decade is about right.
I enjoyed the film, and ultimately, that is what is important!
