Grown Ups

Dennis Dugan made up for his post-Zohan reputation with this one. I was actually almost afraid to go see this movie. I was that disgusted with Sandler in Zohan! Fortunately, I was quite entertained by Grown Ups. I don't even know why... I mean, they only did one thing... they simply tossed a bunch of (fairly) successful actors and lakes together and said "do something funny in there". Maybe Mr. Dugan wasn't even there, so it turned out well beyond expectations. 3.5 stars. (12/02/2011)

Constant, overly vulgar insults that aren't even remotely funny, cheap situational humor, unsympathetic jerks in the lead roles, a face buried in poo several times (I don't even want to guess whose it was)... Well, that was quite the comedy. More like a series of sketches. Not funny at all. I give a star for Steve Buscemi in the water park and Salma Hayek throwing frogs. And that’s it. (23/11/2012)

Adam Sandler is de facto the lead role, producer, and co-writer – which means the whole "tale" is Sandlerian everywhere you look. A lot of the jokes go beyond good taste (but that's a rule with Sandler movies) and this time I probably enjoyed the mocking lines the most (like the scene of ripping Kevin James at the funeral was without flaw) and the relative ease of the story – I emphasize "relative" since the final pathos on the pier was laughable and the emotional wallowing in the scenes where little kids have their ideals stolen from them was at the very least embarrassing, if not obscene. Still, there are a few gags that are definitely worthwhile and as an absolutely (but really absolutely) unpretentious diversion, Grown Ups doesn't offend, but it doesn't impress in any significant way either. A perfectly average Sandler film with a good cast. (25/10/2012)

It’s a corny comparison, but even Sandler has attempted his version of The Expendables and the result is a solid collection of comedians per square foot on the film set, and it's clear that everyone enjoyed the shoot to no end. There are no annoying family values, and in fact, the guys are old enough to mentor the little kids, but all the fart and gerontophile jokes are painfully torturous. You'll also soon realize that for this bunch the film is relatively shallow in terms of being funny. Still, it’s pretty good and everyone except Schneider acts and the Salma & Maria duo is absolutely perfect :-) (07/10/2010)

The sequel definitely impacted me more, but even in this first installment, I felt like I knew these characters even though I had never seen them before. So, it wasn't hard for me to connect with them and laugh along. It's simply because these actors often work together, so you get used to seeing them together. I love Sandler's humor, and I easily accept his concluding moralities. Keep it up! (24/03/2014)