In 1978 Lenny (Adam Sandler), Eric (Kevin James), Kurt (Chris Rock), Rob (Rob Schneider) and Marcus (David Spade) were five kids in middle school who won the basketball playoffs. At the awards dinner, their coach advised them to play life like the championship. Fast forward thirty years later… Lenny (Adam Sandler) is a hot-shot Hollywood agent married to Roxanne (Salma Hayek). He has two spoiled sons who text demands to their nanny and think playtime means being inside where the electrical outlet are – for video games – as a backyard and the great outdoors are a total mystery. Unless of course there’s a built-in pool and a masseuse on hand. But when Sandler’s childhood coach dies, the five men reunion a la comical Big Chill to figure out where their lives went wrong and what they can do to change things. Enter midlife crisis. David Spade the single womanizer, Rob Schneider with a mommy fetish, married to a woman old enough to be his grandma, Kevin James with a dysfunctional life/wife Sally (Maria Bello) and Chris Rock a stay-at-home dad whose wife Deanne (Maya Rudolph) hen-pecks him. The odd thing about this film as while it’s filled with a lot of ruffling and guy gags (and way too-many plot points) the essence of the story is finding a comfort zone in midlife…of dealing with regrets, facing challenges and never letting go of our own true self. This SNL alumni are fun to see together on screen, relaxed, and competent yet as zooey as ever. But beyond all that, this film’s ending does what a lot of movies fail to do….Give the big moment to “the loser” who didn’t deserve it, but maybe by getting it, will finally let go of the past and move on. That final moment elevates this script to Three tiaras.
In 1978 Lenny (Adam Sandler), Eric (Kevin James), Kurt (Chris Rock), Rob (Rob Schneider) and Marcus (David Spade) were five kids in middle school who won the basketball playoffs. At the awards dinner, their coach advised them to play life like the championship. Fast forward thirty years later… Lenny (Adam Sandler) is a hot-shot Hollywood agent married to Roxanne (Salma Hayek). He has two spoiled sons who text demands to their nanny and think playtime means being inside where the electrical outlet are – for video games – as a backyard and the great outdoors are a total mystery. Unless of course there’s a built-in pool and a masseuse on hand. But when Sandler’s childhood coach dies, the five men reunion a la comical Big Chill to figure out where their lives went wrong and what they can do to change things. Enter midlife crisis. David Spade the single womanizer, Rob Schneider with a mommy fetish, married to a woman old enough to be his grandma, Kevin James with a dysfunctional life/wife Sally (Maria Bello) and Chris Rock a stay-at-home dad whose wife Deanne (Maya Rudolph) hen-pecks him. The odd thing about this film as while it’s filled with a lot of ruffling and guy gags (and way too-many plot points) the essence of the story is finding a comfort zone in midlife…of dealing with regrets, facing challenges and never letting go of our own true self. This SNL alumni are fun to see together on screen, relaxed, and competent yet as zooey as ever. But beyond all that, this film’s ending does what a lot of movies fail to do….Give the big moment to “the loser” who didn’t deserve it, but maybe by getting it, will finally let go of the past and move on. That final moment elevates this script to Three tiaras.
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