Grown Ups: (June 25, 2010): PG-13
Distributor: Columbia Pictures
Opening Weekend Box-Office: #2 with $40,506,562
Domestic Box-Office Gross to-date: $158,054,590
Gross Revenue: $207,977,749
Budget: $80 million
Director: Dennis Dugan
Being the second big release from Columbia Pictures (a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment) this summer, Grown Ups followed a very similar marketing strategy to The Karate Kid, making strong use of social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter to promote the film. Adam Sandler is also known for using a recurring set of actors in a large majority of his films, so to see a bunch of his former SNL cast-mates and previous co-stars (such as Kevin James in 2007’s I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry) paired together as main characters afforded the film considerable marketability. Another element that was sure to help box-office receipts involves the fact that Grown Ups is a true family comedy made for the summer. With 4th of July weekend right around the corner, what could audiences relate to better than an old group of friends coming together to spend a weekend at a lake house? Despite Adam Sandler’s recent track record, Grown Ups had considerable potential.
The premise is simple enough…Sandler, James, Rock, Spade, and Schneider, all play former basketball teammates who come together after the death of their beloved childhood basketball coach and spend 4th of July weekend at a lake house they all frequented as children. With the exception of Spade’s character, each of the former teammates has married and raised a family, so the differing personalities of the wives and children come together for some amusing interaction. Though some of the family members come on pretty strong and start off the film incredibly annoying, within the first half of the film they tone it down a bit and there opens up some pleasant interaction between the families. Each father is trying to get their kids to step away from cell phones and video games and enjoy some of the simple fun that their parents had in the past, such as when Kevin James tries to demonstrate a rope swing and fails horribly, or when Adam Sandler teaches all the kids how to use cup-and-string phones, and that adds some considerable heart and comedy to the plot
Watching Sandler, James, Rock, and Schneider, all play the “Dad” role was disarmingly heartwarming, and Selma Hayek was surprisingly effective in her role as Sandler’s wife, blending just the right amount of comedy and sass. As with almost every other Sandler movie, a large number of his recurring supporting actors make an appearance, and once again, they are pretty entertaining (though Steve Buscemi was by far my favorite). Even Rob Schneider did well; anyone who read my preview knows that I was the most skeptical about Rob Schneider as opposed to any other actor in Grown Ups. He’s made some pretty awful movies (with the exception of The Hot Chick…stop lying to yourself, you know that one was funny) and usually seems like a poor-man’s Adam Sandler, and even though his first few scenes in Grown Ups actually made me toy with the notion of leaving the theater, he calms down eventually and adds some pretty funny moments to the film. Most of the leads in this film are old friends off-screen, and that is a fact that is pleasantly obvious as you watch them all interact on-screen, and that’s more than enough to please fans.
Though Grown Ups was funny, it was far from consistently funny. The film has an incredibly slow start, and it seems like for every funny scene or joke present, there were also a number of decidedly unfunny moments…though the writers clearly thought differently. For instance, in one scene James and Sandler deliver a shockingly clever joke, but within five minutes, someone attempts a one-liner that all but kills the comedic high. I was also disappointed in the surprising underuse of Chris Rock in this script. I consider Chris Rock to be one of the best stand-up comedians ever, and though he hasn’t had a flawless movie career, he can hold his own. Unfortunately, Chris Rock’s character brought nothing really uniquely funny to the film, and it felt like you could have had any actor in his role. I’ll admit that a consistently funny movie is a tall order, but with the amount of comedic talent present in the cast, Grown Ups should have been more than able to deliver.
From a box-office perspective, though Grown Ups was unable to take the top spot from Toy Story 3, it still had a surprisingly strong performance. Though it probably won’t be able to take the top spot from another film over the 4th of July weekend (yes…I know Twilight is kicking ass), I do expect that the summer appeal will lead to a jump in revenue. Columbia Pictures should have no problem recovering its production budget. Grown Ups isn’t perfect, but it does not deserve all the negative reviews it has been getting; if you are a fan of any of the cast members or want a simple laugh, its worth seeing.
Overall Recommendation: Medium
