Movies.ie

• Critic rating
• Currently 1/5 Stars.

Movies.ie Critic Review

Something of a Saturday Night Live weekend reunion, Sandler calls on former cast mates (alongside cuckoo, and Sandler's occasional on-screen sparring partner, Kevin James, there for all the You've Been Framed moments) for a script he co-wrote with SNL vet Fred Wolf (Without A Paddle, Joe Dirt) about a bunch of fortysomething buddies going a little wild in the country after the death of their old school coach.

Hotties Hayek and Bello are thrown in for good measure as two of the long-suffering wives of these big kids...

THE VERDICT: The resulting Carry On relies on such comedy stalwarts as grandmothers farting, post-op dogs Stephen Hawking-barking, 48-month-old boys breastfeeding, men peeing in lakes, men peeing in public pools, and the Canadian accent. Oh, and insults. And being ugly. And being fat.

Which is all well and good. If it's funny. Which Grown Ups is not. Still, it's made over $150m in the US, so, you know, hurrah for mediocre family comedies. 

Review By Paul Byrne

• Avg User rating
• Currently 2/5 Stars.

User Reviews

• • Currently 3/5 Stars.

  Chad

  

  One of Adam Sandlers better films to date. Plenty of laughs and fun to watch!

• • Currently 4/5 Stars.

  scollonp

  

  Actually made me laugh a lot. Good directing by Adam Sandler, thumbs up!

• • Currently 5/5 Stars.

  virginija.ra

  

• • Currently 3/5 Stars.

  thompsss

  

  I got to say I wasn't really too sure what to expect from this movie because the last few of Adam Sandlers movies have been well to put it nicely 'rubbish'. But this wasn't awful and I even found myself laughing quite a bit! There were time of course where the story line was stretched thin to get a few cheap laughs but its definately a better one of Sandlers, though nothing to his glory days in classics like Happy Gilmore.

• • Currently 2/5 Stars.

  monika_fan

  

  nothing special, Chris Rob was hilarious though

• • Currently 4/5 Stars.

  mzmental

  

  The whole cast line up makes this funny. Some classic scenes and makes you realise the value of friendship - no matter what each of you accomplish in life!

• • Currently 2/5 Stars.

  razorblade_kiss

  

  Disappointing, especially considering the comic talent involved.

• • Currently 3/5 Stars.

  pkinsella

  

  Think people are expecting too much from this movie. A great cast and some very funny moment. Quite entertaining. Worth a watch

• • Currently 1/5 Stars.

  daverooney

  

  terrible, worst film i have seen in years

• • Currently 3/5 Stars.

  imyoursweet666

  

  it wasnt the best of films but it was better then i had expected it to be

• • Currently 3/5 Stars.

  TheAngelicDiablo

  

  Basic feel good bromantic comedy that doesn't promise anything i wont deliver.

• • Currently 3/5 Stars.

  alandennedy

  

  the jokes are a little dry but you are entertained from start to finish! a must see!

• • Currently 1/5 Stars.

  CryingHero

  

  With so many comedians to play off of each other this film feels over crowded and moves along at a snails pace which makes it hard to watch.. Chris Rock being another reason its hard to watch.

• • Currently 3/5 Stars.

  dennehca

  

  This was much better than expected.I had seen awful reviews but as light hearted comedies go its not too bad.There were a few laugh out loud moments.A good feel good movie not to be taken too serious.Its probably more suited to dvd ot tv but didnt feel I wasted my money going to see it in the cinema.

• • Currently 1/5 Stars.

  ssconnolly

  

  When their basketball coach passes away five old friends and teammates are reunited at the funeral and decide to spend the fourth of July weekend together. At first they don't get along too well and the kids just want to play video games. Then they start to get into the spirit of the weekend and have fun. It all sounds really boring and it is really boring. Now I know this is a little irrelevant but If Apatow's group of stars were in this instead it would be brilliant but Sandler and co. weren't funny enough to keep the film going. They really could've saved it, like when the friends are challenged to a rematch of their championship winning game about 20 minutes in. This would've been an interesting plot point to pursue, could've spawned some training montages and family bonding. Instead they play out the film then cram this rematch into the films pointless and unnecessary final twenty minutes. I could try sit here and point blame at the direction the acting or whatever but at the end of the day Grown Ups biggest problem is that it's quite simply not funny. I really wanted to like it, but it's actually so unfunny I began to feel embarrassed for the films five main stars. The reason it is so bad is that this was clearly not a scripted film. What I mean is they seem to be trying to keep their place in the list of Hollywood's best comedy stars so they are doing what the stars of the hilarious Knocked Up did. They improvised. Now you would think that at this stage these men would be good at improvised humor and funny back and forth's but they fail miserably. All their improvised gags are brutal, either incredibly childish and stupid or just crap elaborate insults. I mean even during their coaches funeral while Sandler is making a speech they throw insults at each other from across a church, which is just tasteless. And to make things worse they all think they are so much funnier than they really are. They are messing around and you can just tell that they think they're making this years The Hangover. But in reality none of the jokes come naturally and all are too strained and staged to muster up a laugh. The stars are trying too hard and although I am certain they had fun on set it doesn't come off in the film. I only laughed once in the entire film and that was in a brief Steve Buscemi cameo. By the end I found myself cringing at their failed jokes and poor chemistry and saying it became difficult to watch is an understatement. In fact Grown Up's is like what I imagine watching a loved one fall into a massive hole is like. There's the initial impact, the realisation that they've fallen into this thing and they won't come out the other side at all well. And then they keep falling without hitting the bottom and all you want is for it to end but they keep going. And when they finally hit the ground you're thankful its over, and a little angry it took so long. Well I realised Sandler and co. had fallen into the hole that is Grown Up's and they would come out the other side looking poorly. And I wanted it to end but they just kept going with their crap jokes. And by the end I was glad they had finally stopped and angry that I was subjected to it for so long. So all in all Grown Ups will be now be joining the depressingly large list of crap 2010 comedies. A complete and utter waste of about 100 minutes of my life. The cast of so called comedy heavyweights fail to provide the laughs required, and the messy story sure wasn't going to keep the film going. Kevin James the was the best of the bad bunch, and Steve Buscemi's brief cameo appearances were as I remember the only time I actually laughed in the entire film. I really wouldn't recommend this for anyone. Sure the film boasts a strong cast including Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Salma Hayek, Maria Bello and Chris Rock but don't make the mistake I did. Don't think that just because you like them that this film will be good, because for me it was an outright failure.

Page 1 of 2  1 2 »