Grown Ups

"You see that? You just aim for a spot and shoot the ball there?"
"It's true. Your dad has won over 50 games with that shot."
"Really? Because that shot doesn't work on the Wii."
"Well, you should Wii-turn that Wii and get yourself a Wii-fund. Tim Duncan has had over a hundred game winners with that shot."

In 1978, Coach Bobby "Buzzer" Ferdinando (Blake Clark) leads five boys to win the local basketball championship.  Thirty years later the boys, who were best friends for years, are reunited at the Coach's funeral.

• Lenny (Sandler) was the best player on the team and is now a Hollywood agent, married to fashion designer Roxanne (Hayek), with three children.
• Kurt (Rock) is a stay-at-home dad, relentlessly mocked by his two children and angry mother-in-law (Ebony Jo-Ann), while his pregnant wife Deanne (Rudolph) has a corporate job.
• Eric (James) co-owns a lawn furniture company and is married to Sally (Bello), who still breastfeeds their four year old son, they also have a daughter.
• Marcus (Spade) is a commitment-phobe womanizer who never married.
• And eccentric Rob (Schneider) has been divorced three times with three teenage daughters that hate him, he is currently married to Gloria (Van Patten) who is thirty years older.

After the funeral, all five families converge on the cabin where they used to spend summers.  They may be adults, but don't expect them to act like it!


Based on the trailers (and Adam Sandler's track record lately), I was wasn't expecting much or planning to see this film.  However, my roommate and a few other friends raved about it... so I took a chance and I have to admit it was funnier than I expected.

The cast has great chemistry, and they should since most have worked together before and / or been friends for years.  Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, David Spade, and Rob Schneider were cast members on Saturday Night Live (SNL) in the 1990s and regularly appear in movies together, or have memorable cameos.  They seem to really enjoy working together.  Kevin James fits nicely into the group and has an easy chemistry with everyone.  A good portion of the rest of the cast, specifically the basketball rivals, are also SNL alumni.

Unlike other recent Sandler films, this film is funny and relatively clean.  His films tend to be funny or have a funny premise, but the overabundance of crude / tasteless jokes get in the way... not to say they aren't good comedies, but I don't enjoy them as much.  This film managed to be a family film, while still capturing the humor of other Sandler films.

Better than expected!

Grown Ups (2010) 102 minutes
Rating: PG-13 for crude material including suggestive references, language and some male rear nudity.
Director: Dennis Dugan
Starring: Adam Sandler as Lenny Feder
Kevin James as Eric Lamonsoff
Chris Rock as Kurt McKenzie
David Spade as Marcus Higgins
Rob Schneider as Rob Hilliard
Salma Hayek as Roxanne Chase-Feder
Maria Bello as Sally Lamonsoff
Maya Rudolph as Deanne McKenzie
Joyce Van Patten as Gloria