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There are admittedly some chuckle inducing
moments presented here that provide a glimpse of the possibilities. Alex
masturbating at the beginning provides a guffaw, while the scene in the
Vegan restaurant had the possibility to induce a knee slap or two, yet
still ended up drawing a chuckle, sad as I am to admit it.
There’s a lot of potential in the script, and with a much more creative
trio, this would have been one of the funnier comedies of 2006. As for
Linda Cardellini, having her sing “Push It” while clutching her chest
was a blatant attempt to woo the male audience, and it worked.
Cardellini is so much fun to look at, even if she does piss on her
resume here. I’ve crushed on her since “Freaks & Geeks” and here, she’s
even more gorgeous than ever. And it’s great that even in the tidal wave
of crap, Doris Roberts still maintains her dignity as Alex’s grandmother
who is naïve but well intentioned.
Rob Schneider, David Spade, I want you to
get down on all fours and thank the stars you know Adam Sandler. Thank
Sandler. Build an altar to him and thank him for helping your mere
shreds you call careers. Where would you be without that douche bag?
Nowhere and you know it. How else can you explain your cameos in
“Grandma’s Boy,” an otherwise glorified custom made vehicle for all of
Sandler’s pals? “Grandma’s Boy” is a vain film. Vain in the assumption
that through endless sex jokes, and weed induced sight gags, that it’s
making a commentary about ageism. Really, it’s nothing but a veil thrown
over it to add a thin sense of non-existent intelligence. “Grandma’s
Boy” is a flat comedy about a video game programmer who loses his
apartment thanks to his hooker addicted roommate, and is forced to live
with his grandmother and friends. The whole center of the film is the
experiences of our character Alex living with three old women in a house
filled with antiques. But oddly, that’s sidetracked for a rather boring
plot of Alex’s attempts to break into the video game business.
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All three writers pack in so
many potential sub-plots, and plot elements, that it all
feels like one big messy attempt to add jobs to Sandler’s
friends’ resumes. There’s Alex living with his grandmother,
Alex attempting to cope with the doldrums of his job, Alex
falling in love with an executive, JP, an awfully unfunny
character who steals others ideas, the Macguffin of
finishing a big game before the deadline, and it just goes
on and on. |
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There are so many threads that are never
resolved here, and none of it is funny or entertaining. The sub-plots go
on and on and never bind together to form a coherent picture. It’s hard
to believe it took three writers to shit this crap onto the page. While
it’s never as awful as I originally predicted, it’s still a messy result
of too many cooks in the kitchen and lacks any sense of energy or
laughs. Covert is a rather bland lead character forced to compete in a
young man’s world, while most of the supporting cast wings it
sleepwalking around the film spouting one-liners, and engaging in much
physical humor, ad nauseum. As annoyed as I am to admit, “Grandma’s Boy”
with a different team of writers, and a better studio, could have been a
funny and entertaining comedy. The plot involving the video games and
Alex living with his grandmother are seeds for hysterical humor, but
it’s pissed away minute by minute without anything to show for it.
Happy Madison has filled its quota with providing Adam Sandler's friends
with roles, but the odd thing is, "Grandma's Boy" is so filled with
untapped laughs, potentially interesting sub-plots and fails in every
single aspect in a mostly laughless stoner comedy.
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