Grown Ups 2

"Confidence. K-O-B-R-Q-V-Y. Confidence."

"Well, we're not gonna have to pay for college. That's for sure."

The Feder family has relocated from Hollywood to Lenny's (Sandler) hometown of Stanton, Connecticut.  His best friends also live in town with their families.  It is the last day of school for the kids, so Lenny, Kurt (Rock), Eric (James), and Marcus (Spade) decide to spend the day reminiscing about their teen years.  Kurt is disappointed that his wife Deanne (Rudolph) forgot their anniversary, and decides to avoid work for the day.  Eric and his wife Sally (Bello) are disagreeing about how to raise their children, so he is avoiding her and spending extra time with his doting mother (Georgia Engel).  And Marcus is avoiding his teenage son Braden (Ludwig), who he just met.  Lenny is trying to convince his wife Roxanne (Hayek) that they don't need any more children.

Their plans are interrupted by a group of cocky fraternity boys, who laid claim to their old swimming hole.  As Lenny tries to teach his kids about dealing with people, he is confronted by his childhood bully Tommy Cavanaugh (Steve Austin).  And the whole town is coming over for a big impromptu party at the Feder home.


Three years after Grown Ups premiered, they decided to make a sequel, making this star / writer / producer Adam Sandler's first sequel.  Dennis Dugan returned as the director, and the majority of the cast returned as well.  Rob Schneider was unable to return, due to scheduling conflicts.  This is Dugan's 8th film collaboration with Sandler.

Like the original, this film capitalizes on the easy chemistry between the leads: Sandler, Kevin James, Chris Rock, and David Spade.  All four are talented comedians and together they seem to have a great time.  The kids are all back, and giving Higgins a son was a smart idea.  Once again there are entertaining cameos for former (and current) SNL cast members.  There are too many to discuss, but each one is memorably weird.

The film won't appeal to everyone... and actually most of the reviews I read were condemning the movie.  But like it's predecessor, I enjoyed it.  It is funny and doesn't try to hard to be something that it isn't.  Sure, it's not great art, but at the end of the day, it's funny and sometimes that's all you need a movie to be.

Grown Ups 2 (2013) 101 minutes
Rating: PG-13 for crude and suggestive content, 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
Salma Hayek as Roxanne Chase-Feder
Maya Rudolph as Deanne McKenzie
Maria Bello as Sally Lamonsoff
Nick Swardson as Nick
Colin Quinn as Dickie Bailey
Tim Meadows as Malcolm Fluzoo
Shaquille O'Neal Officer Fluzoo
Alexander Ludwig as Braden Higgins