I loved this movie. The casting was great. All the characters were lovable and it reminded me of how I grew up as a kid. I thought it was definitely entertaining for people of all ages but especially those of us that grew up in a time where there were no computers, no cell phones, and we had to come up with our own games to entertain us. (without getting killed)It's an enjoyable, entertaining movie with a happy ending and it promotes spending time together as a family and the importance of good friends. What more could you ask for?? I highly recommend this movie. I saw it twice and I can't wait to see it again.
When it comes to mainstream Hollywood comedies, we've all too often found that the quality of a cast is in inverse proportion to the quality of the film (i.e., "He's Just Not That Into You"). That being the case, I had expected "Grown Ups" which features the likes of Adam Sandler, Salma Hayek, Kevin James, Maria Bello, Chris Rock, Maya Rudolph, David Spade and Steve Buscemi in starring roles to be a real cinematic turkey. Imagine my shock, then, when the movie turned out to be, for the most part at least (and we'll get to the qualifiers in a moment), a surprisingly genial, laid-back and likable movie that generates a decent number of laughs without breaking too much of a sweat.
That is a particularly noteworthy achievement given that Sandler, not exactly known for either subtlety or restraint, is not only the star of the film but co-author of the screenplay as well (along with Fred Wolf). But somehow Sandler and company (the movie was directed by Dennis Dugan) have avoided the material-given temptation of going overly-broad with the humor, choosing instead to effectively downplay things most of the way.
Sandler plays Lenny Feder, a hotshot Hollywood agent with a fashion designer wife (Hayek) and two children, who spends a weekend in the country with a group of his basketball-playing chums and their families when the boys' beloved coach from thirty years ago passes away. The guys were all part of a championship team in 1978, and they've come together to honor the man who led them through the winning season, as well as to catch up with what each of them has been doing in the interim.
"Grown Ups" is far from a perfect comedy. For every sharply humorous insight it offers about the responsibility that comes with maturity, there's a crass joke or gross-out sight-gag to counterbalance it. It's almost as if the writers just couldn't help themselves, as if it were a part of their authorial DNA.
That being said, there's much to like about this movie, particularly the performances and the sweetness it conveys when it's NOT being juvenile and crass.
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I desperately wanted to enjoy Kevin James in Paul Blart: Mall Cop. I still believe it was only his lack of a strong supporting cast that kept it from being truly funny and was also what made it woefully thin on laughs. This is thankfully not the case with Grown Ups. Here Kevin James is well supported by an excellent comedy team and it works very well. My wife reluctantly went with me to see Grown Ups saying that she didn't like "slapstick comedies". Well, she laughed much more than I have heard laugh her in a very long time and she came away saying that she really enjoyed the film. The film has done very well at the box office despite many negative reviews (as did Paul Blart: Mall Cop) and it does seem to be much more popular with filmgoers than film critics. I personally think it is a much better and much funnier film than Couples Retreat. It is hard to think of Kevin James as any character other than his The King of Queens "Doug Heffernan" and David Spade really just seems to be basically playing a character much like his Rules of Engagement one, Russell in Grown Ups. An added bonus for me in Grown Ups is the presence of the very lovely Maria Bello as the wife of Kevin James. I like the film very much and I had a great time. I will definitely get it on DVD and I hope there will be a lot of bonuses, especially some deleted scenes and maybe even a gag reel.Read Best Reviews of Grown Ups (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo) (2010) Here
How can you not love this movie! It has a great cast who have all outdone themselves again. I saw this with a friend and we both laughed through the whole movie. I would definitely recommended getting this!!!Want Grown Ups (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo) (2010) Discount?
I recently had the pleasure of watching "Grown Ups" on a long bus ride and found it captivating. With "Grown Ups 2" about to premier in theaters, I wanted to get "ahead of the curve" and drafted some script-notes for "Grown Ups 3". Mr. Bezos, please forward to Adam Sandler or his brothers in the movie.GROWN UPS 3
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Getting ready for retirement and with newly born grand-kids, five friends return to their old summer cabin for a weekend of relaxing and reminiscing.
* Right off the bat, Salma Hayek, no longer attractive enough to play Adam Sandler's fiery latina wife, is replaced by Salena Gomez. Gomez maintains the same accent and persona as Hayak, and the only acknowledgement of the switch is in any restaurant scenes where Gomez only orders off of the kid's menu.
* On their way to the cabin, the gang bumps into a pack of local teenage bad-boys at a gas station that taunts them for being old and overweight and employed. Sandler, thinking that experience will triumph over youth, boldly challenges the pack to a sporting event of some sort and the guys half-heartedly support him. The audience collectively wonders "How will the guys make it out of this one?".
* In an exposition scene, Chris Rock's mother-in-law (Mama Ronzoni) suffers a fatal heart-attack while sitting in the porch swing or something. No one notices and the gang continues to confuse the smell of human decay for her usual flatulence, adding a whole new dimension of humor to the ensuing cavalcade of fart gags (eg: when Chris Rock exclaims that "It smells like someone died out here", etc). In a post-credit gag the Rock family returns home only to remember that they left Mama Ronzoni on the porch.
* The gang practices for their upcoming basketball tournament, running passing and shooting drills, though it is clear that they are in very poor shape. At some point, the basketball is replaced with a basketball made out of actual dog poop (!) but the guys don't notice and continue to run drills and each of them gets splattered with dog poop that goes all over their faces and in their mouths even and it's totally gross but it's all shown in slow motion and also Peter Gabriel's "Solsbury Hill" is playing the whole time.
* In a call-back to the running "Grown Ups" gag where Kevin James had difficulty urinating, James tells the gang that he had been diagnosed with testicular cancer and underwent a double orchiectomy. He painfully retells the harrowing details of his failed chemotherapy treatments and post-operation bouts with depression over the loss of his manhood; weeping over the eventual realization that his wife (still played by Maria Bello) has never looked at him the same way. In an extended gag, the gang assaults James' in the groin with various oversized props, marveling at his complete lack of pain.
* The guys decide to take their kids to a water park but then one of the local teenage bad-boys (from before) makes it so all the water on the slides is turned into dog poop water and they all have to slide down on the poop slide in slow motion. In a call-back to the training scene Peter Gabriel's "Solsbury Hill" plays again.
* As the gang prepares a traditional family dinner, a scene full of broad physical comedy involving sausages and apple strudel culminates in the revelation that David Spade has always been a crypto-Nazi and leader of his local chapter of the Aryan Nations. After a meaningful conversation about diversity Spade learns his lesson and all is forgiven.
* One of the grand-kids leaves a roller-skate on the stairs and Chris Rock takes a big fall down the stairs and into the kitchen, burning his crotch on a hot frying pan. He tries to cool himself with some of the leftover frozen sausages but Gomez spots him through the window and does the "Oh!" face and the audience laughs and laughs.
* Unaware that Mama Ronzoni is dead, Rob Schneider confesses to her that his wife and two beautiful daughters are not on an African safari as he had claimed but have actually been locked up in his basement for the past decade out of fear that they will be "defiled by the craven modern world". Schneider thanks Mama for being such a patient listener and ominously concludes that he now knows "how to protect [his] family, once and for all". He also advises Mama to "please cut down on the beans", though we the viewer know the true source of that smell.
* Sandler and the gang finally play their game of flag-football against the local teenage bad-boys and win by that Kevin James scores in his painless cancerous crotch. Sandler closes the movie with a speech on the values of friendship and family.
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