CNS Movie Review: Grown Ups

Grown Ups

By Kurt Jensen
Catholic News Service

NEW YORK (CNS) -- "Grown Ups" (Columbia) answers this unsettling question: What happens when you combine a "mature" Adam Sandler comedy with elements of "The Big Chill" and "On Golden Pond?"

You get buttoned-down raunch and a truckload of sap.

"Grown Ups" offers a meandering plot featuring eight former cast members of "Saturday Night Live"; four crotch hits and about as many flatulence jokes; a strange running gag about a 4-year-old boy who still breastfeeds; a peek at David Spade's bare backside; and expertly staged physical comedy which relieves some of the stalest dialogue ever to blight a movie script.

Sandler, who co-wrote with Fred Wolf, and director Dennis Dugan start out to tell the tale of five friends, all once members of a private-school basketball team that won a title in 1978, reuniting after their coach dies. Their Fourth of July weekend at a New England lake cabin provides some nice lessons about the positive effects of real-life activities and human interaction on their video-game-sated children, but is mostly a showcase for the various comic styles of the principals.

Sandler plays Hollywood agent Lenny Fedler, married to fashion designer Roxanne (Salma Hayek Pinault); Kevin James is Eric Lamonsoff, who brags of his prosperous life but isn't what he appears to be; Chris Rock is Kurt McKenzie, a subdued househusband to hard-charging spouse Deanne (Maya Rudolph); Spade is perpetually partying bachelor Marcus Higgins; and Rob Schneider is Rob Hilliard, a bewigged holistic healer paired with his third wife, the much older but enduringly lusty Gloria (Joyce Van Patten).

The bulk of the film consists of casual banter and insults among the men, much of it seemingly improvised and consisting of quick riffs on Schneider's eternally odd appearance and sex life, and his unusually attractive older daughters. The women -- with the exception of Gloria, who gets to deliver the big "lesson" about the stages of life -- might as well be cardboard cutouts.

All the characters try, in their own clumsy ways, to be the best people they can be, the children all turn out much improved for their rustic escapades, and there aren't enough objectionable elements to make this unacceptable for mature adolescents. But most teens are unlikely to want to see this weak entry, anyway. The prime audience would appear to be devoted fans of Sandler, determined to remain au courant with his entire ... uh ... oeuvre.

The film contains some mild sexual and scatological humor, brief rear nudity, fleeting crude and crass language and a few instances of innuendo. The Catholic News Service classification is A-III -- adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 -- parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

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Jensen is a guest reviewer for Catholic News Service. More reviews are available online at www.usccb.com/movies.

END

Copyright (c) 2010 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed.
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