Gente Grande

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.

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.

Hollywood has lost the art of being funny. Mainly because everything has been done beyond the subtle. Short attention spans, filth masquerading as entertainment and too much freedom without consequences has reduced what's seen as funny to banal dick jokes.

You know what's worse? Reading the sanctimonious crap written here in this forum. I hate that some contributors want to coerce our agreement to their opinions by suggesting we have no taste if we disagree.

Well, there's plenty of rubbish being peddled as comedy but like I said, I've seen worse.

The overriding feeling I got was that the cast was having fun. Seemed natural with lots of ad lib. So what? I had fun too. So what!

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.

How can anyone rate low scores with such an all-star stellar comedic group of actors? This is supposed to be fun and funny mindless entertainment, and it was! I had a permanent smile throughout the entire film, in between all the laughs. Excellent casting and acting, especially Spade. Directing, pacing, runtime and writing were all on point. And the story was excellent! This is a collectors film. A well deserved 9/10 from me.