Gente Grande

Five childhood friends reunite for their basketball coach's funeral. It's some 30 years after their championship game as a bunch of 12 year olds.

This movie works for one reason only. It's the chemistry and comradary between the five leads; Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Chris Rock, David Spade, and Rob Schneider. The stories and quite frankly the ladies are mostly unimportant. They really need to give them some more funny stuff to do. They need to spread some of the stupid and silly stuff around. It works better with the bromance. The more time those five can spend together alone the better.

This is a comedic low brow 'The Big Chill' played for laughs and trying to make some points about parent and kids and relationships and material things are not important starring some rich Hollywood actors.

The death of their old basketball coach causes some of the winning basketball team of 1978 to reunite. Adam Sandler is a rich Hollywood agent with a hot wife, Salma Hayek, spoilt kids and a nanny. Kevin James has a 4 year old who still drinks breast milk, Chris Rock has a wife who works whilst he is a stay at home dad, Rob Schneider lives with an older woman and has 3 kids from previous relationships who turn, two of them simply to provide eye candy for the audience.

We have some gross out jokes such as urinating in a water-park pool, the dead coach's ashes being thrown over food, a boy breast feeding etc. Some spoilt brats too busy texting and wanting the finer things in life on demand.

Over the weekend the kids enjoy the simpler things in life and learn to get along with other kids and grow up a bit. The adults too learn to value their loved ones but in a slight story some of the 'issues' come out of the blue.

Still it is sporadic fun, watchable and Steve Buscemi pops up to provide the biggest laughs.

For the beautiful bond of friendship! Watch it to cheer yourself, laughters and deep smiles.

The stage curtains open ...

I know others didn't care for this movie, but I really enjoyed it. It just goes to show, not everyone likes the same things, and that's okay. I laughed throughout - almost like I was there with them.

When the beloved coach of their childhood champion basketball team passes away, 5 friends since youth come together with their families for the funeral. Each of them having taken very different roads to end up in different jobs and financial statuses. But, all of them still share the same background, same basic sense of humor and similar family problems. They're friends, and even after all these years, they don't miss a beat.

This isn't one of Adam Sandler's best movies, but it is one of his most down-to-earth and casual films. It really is like old friends hanging out together, joking around and having fun. It is this kind of humor, the kind you have when you're with your best friends and just enjoying the time together. On the strength of this comedy type is where this movie excels. It handles most of the subject matter realistically, with some over-the-top moments - ie: the breast pump scenes, and the hanging by your feet from a zip line at the water park (which, of course, they would never let you do), but that just adds to the overall feel. The various family dynamics are entertaining - for example, between Kurt McKenzie (Chris Rock) and his mother-in-law. And each actor brings his own brand of humor effectively to the screen.

I had a fun time with this movie - I've already seen it more than once and am sure to watch it again. This is a recommend for me.

Very mixed reviews on here, but just got around to watching this movie for first time. It's light hearted and quite enjoyable. The mix of characters keeps you engaged until the end.