Hey folks, Harry here... this really doesn't sound like a good time in a movie theater. However, I'm open to some other takes... apparently he was partially offended by the sort of humor being delivered in a 'child like' medium. Don't know what I think of that, but lets just say I'm not as excited for this one as I was and am about PUNCH-DRUNK LOVE!
Hey Harry and friends - last night I had the displeasure of losing almost an hour and a half of my life. An hour and a half that I'll simply never get back, because I wasted it watching 8 Crazy Nights...or as Im now referring it "80 Awful Minutes"! 8 Crazy nights is not only the WORST holiday movie ever, but maybe the worst film I've ever seen in a movie theater.
I can't say that I was particularly looking forward to this film in the first place (the trailers didn't look great to start with), but I went in with an open mind, hoping for at least a few good laughs. Instead I found myself squirming in my chair, turning around to watch the audiences blank faced reactions, and wondering why parents weren't taking their children and walking out. Now I'm all for humor, even crude humor, but at least when you watch South Park you know it's geared toward adults, and i! t's crude animation helps differentiate it from "kids" cartoons. Now I realize that a lot of people will say, "but this film is PG-13", and to them I equate it in the same way Joe Camel made smoking look cool.
The film is full of sexual innuendoes, mixed with jokes about shitting, pissing and mean spirited nature (as in making fun of fat kids, and anyone who is "different" in any way). It's the story of Davie, the 33 yr old town drunk who not only hates everything to do with the holidays, but hates himself too. We find this in the opening musical (yes MUSICAL) sequence, where Davie gets drunk, and attempting to avoid the police, does everything he possibly can to ruin the holidays for everyone who crosses his path (this ranges from purposefully knocking over people with presents, to destroying decorations, and even grabbing a womens "melons"). After finally being stopped, Davie is about to be sentenced to 10 yrs in prison, when the lovable town ! loser Whitey steps in, and offers to let Davie help referee youth basketball at the JCC instead of going to jail...DON'T TRY AND MAKE SENSE OF THE PLOT, IT MAKES NO SENSE! -
OK, I honestly see no point in continuing a painful blow by blow of this film. The film sucks, PERIOD. It just never figures out what it's trying to be and who it's for. It looks like a kids movie, yet no good parent would ever let their kid watch this - the jokes just aren't funny to anyone over 13 - and it's full of musical sequences like a dirty disney film (theres a whole number on crapping yourself). It also trys to be a holiday movie, with a complete character change/happy ending arriving in the last 5 minutes, but you can never figure out if it's a Christmas movie, a Chanukah film, or if it's just making fun of the holiday's in general.
This movie should, God willing, be Adam Sandler's first big bomb. He needs to realize that just because something might be funn! y to him, it's not funny to anyone else. It's sad considering that he just came off the most brilliant performance of his career in Punch Drunk Love. Go see that movie and think nice thoughts about Adam, because you'll never be able to watch him seriously after submitting yourself to this.
Are there any good things? - Sure you'll laugh a couple times. But then when you hear the 8 yr old next to you laughing, you'll feel guilty for being there...you'll feel dirty...the best part of the movie is the short film that opens it called "A Day with Meatball". This is essentially a day in the life of Adam Sandler's dog. Or as my friend turned to me and said "I guess this is what rich people do when they're bored".
My feeling leaving this film last night was saddness. What happened to all those great holiday films from when I grew up? Films that expressed good will toward men. Films that could make you laugh because they were not only well written, but everyone could relate in some way or another. It seems sad that we ruin everything, including the holiday's, in a poor attempt at shocking us into a laugh. When did it become alright to take the fun out of the season for kids. Just because as adults we lose that magic, don't spoil it for your kids as well, and DON'T take them to see this film.
Until next time - Brewster Baker OUT.
