Thursday, November 29, 2012

That’s My Boy

Sean Anders – 2012 – USA

I know Adam Sandler’s funny because people laugh at him, but I’ve never found him funny at all.  I do enjoy some of his movies, but it’s the gags and overall sense of humor that I like, not Sandler himself.  Especially in recent years, there is something so smarmy and malicious about him that it’s pretty intolerable.  He mutters baby-talk with a smirk that says, “You can’t knock me for this schlock, because we both know it’s schlock, and you paid to see it.”  The gimmick in this one is that Sandler and Andy Samberg are father and son because they sort of look alike, are both Saturday Night Live veterans and have similar-sounding names.  Never mind that they’re not quite far enough apart in age; instead of just making them something more plausible like brothers, the screenplay’s gimmick about them being father and son is rigorously obeyed to the extent of including a long prologue that doesn’t really have any impact on the main plot.  I laughed a couple times, but never at Sandler, and nowhere near as much as the film intended.  Mostly I was just distracted by Sandler’s weird accent.  One thing I liked was Milo Ventimiglia as Samberg’s Marine soon-to-be brother-in-law.  You can tell he’s a method actor who really threw himself into the role.  It’s such a striking difference from all the comedy actors trying to hide their embarrassment by mugging and winking to the audience.

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