![]() ![]() We could barely remember that Eric (Kevin James) drove a fancy car and said he was part owner of a furniture store, but he tells everyone he was lying as if it was a plot thread sewn through the entire narrative. Everyone literally stands in a circle and confesses something about themselves the audience does not care about. For instance, the character arcs come out of nowhere in the third act. It’s as though someone skimmed through a few articles on how to structure a movie, plugged in scenes that fit a vague formula, and called it a day. ![]() One of the major problems with Grown Ups is that its plot is entirely paint-by-numbers. ![]() So, the answer to the question “Is the Adam Sandler movie really as bad as everyone said in 2010” is yes. Instead, we get a mess of a comedy with no clear goal other than to make another Adam Sandler comedy. Judd Apatow could have turned it into a raunchy but heartfelt comedy about the good old days and learning to appreciate what we have. Had you given such a concept to someone like Richard Linklater, and we might have gotten a thoughtful and funny reflection about aging. The story of a group of friends who return to their hometown following the death of their beloved basketball coach is a ripe premise with a lot of possibilities, many of them quite good. If audiences liked it so much and Sandler even made a sequel, surely there’s more to it than critics initially thought back in the day. Therefore, one would think that there is something different about this movie. Released in 2010, the film got roasted by critics, but obviously made enough money to justify a sequel, and both movies are shown on cable ad nauseam. One of the few exceptions to this is Grown Ups. While he has made a ton of movies over the years, he doesn’t typically revisit any for sequels. The Adam Sandler movie machine is its own brand, and it has been going strong since the mid-90s. ![]()
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