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Monday, June 11, 2012

That's My Boy (2012)



It’s no secret that much of Adam Sandler's recent output has not exactly been the most respected comedies within the critical community. Ever since he starred in Judd Apatow’s ambitious-but-ignored Funny People, he’s gone on a tear that seems to be a direct response to that movie’s financial failures. You’re not going to see this quality film in which he gives a fantastic performance? Fine. How about he hits you with a series of projects in which he gives no effort whatsoever? The resulting stretch of films has included such duds as Grown Ups, Just Go with It and Jack and Jill; the last of which felt like a comedic nadir.

If there’s one positive thing I can say about all those films, it’s that on some level they were reasonably good-natured projects. All three are rated PG or PG-13, and while the humor certainly isn’t great—or present, for that matter—it normally isn’t downright offensive. For his latest film That’s My Boy, Sandler decided to leave any and all restrictions at the door. Going in, I was genuinely interested to see what an Adam Sandler movie might look like if he let himself off the leash. Unfortunately it turned out to be an unholy, repulsive mess that goes on way too long and decides to make every tasteless joke it can in the process. It’s all the more disappointing because from a filmmaking standpoint, That’s My Boy isn’t nearly as inept as the films we’ve seen from past Sandler collaborator Dennis Dugan. It’s still nothing more than a clunky collection of lowest common denominator humor. Only this time it’s dirtier, and that usually winds up just hurting matters.


Recent Saturday Night Live alum Andy Samberg begins his descent into the Happy Madison swamp as Todd Peterson, a wealthy businessman who is about to marry his sweetheart Jamie (Leighton Meester). Only it turns out his real name is not Todd Peterson. It is actually Han Solo Berger, and he is the son of Donny Berger (Sandler), a drunkard who got famous because he impregnated his middle school teacher. Now Donny is a middle-aged loser without money, and he sees his newly rich son as an opportunity to pay all that he owes to the IRS. He shows up to the wedding looking to reconnect, but his son doesn’t exactly greet him with open arms. Thus begins a series of disconnected dirty “jokes” that have nothing to do with the film’s plot, except for when it’s most convenient.

And then there are the jokes that will only make sense to about 10 percent of the viewing audience, and even then it will inspire nothing more than a knowing smirk. Donny’s lawyer is played by Rex Ryan, who—for those of you who do not know—is the head coach of the New York Jets. This team has quite the rivalry with the New England Patriots and Tom Brady, see, and thus it’s hilarious that this lawyer is such a gigantic New England Patriots fan. Then there’s the fictional television personality Randall Morgan, who is portrayed by moderately famous sportscaster Dan Patrick. Oh, and his secretary is played by ESPN’s Erin Andrews. There are no jokes there; you’re supposed to know who these people are and thus it’s hilarious. Even the full crowd at my screening was completely silent during most of these sequences, and about half of these people were hooting and hollering at everything else. The other half sat in seething anger, and there were a few noticeable walkouts.

The one thing keeping That’s My Boy from absolute failure territory is that it at least has the feel and timing of a comedy. The material is junk, but there’s at least a general silliness to the proceedings here that other Happy Madison films lack. (This is quite the contrast to Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star, which I wrote about last week. That movie doesn’t always seem aware that it’s meant to be comedic.) It’s also hard to crap on Samberg here, and he actually does slightly better work than I thought he would. The guy is obviously talented, but I was always skeptical as to how he would translate to film. In reality, he proves to be a reasonably capable leading man, and in a better movie I think we may be on to something. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t chuckle a couple of times, and just about all these moments came via Samberg.

Outside the occasional moments when it isn’t, That’s My Boy is otherwise just the worst. It strains credulity from the start, including a few early scenes where the film claims that Donny became incredibly famous because he slept with his middle school teacher. As horrific as it sounds, I’m sure there are a few young’uns whose teachers have gotten intimate with them, and I can name absolutely none of them. However, in That’s My Boy this action is enough to warrant a trillion magazine covers and a sitcom based on your life. No one seems to acknowledge how creepy this is. Instead, all the dudes high-five each other when Donny is brought up and he becomes a multimillionaire. There’s a South Park episode called “Miss Teacher Bangs a Boy” that makes similar jokes, but Trey Parker and Matt Stone are mocking all the men who think this event is “cool.” There are no moments in Sandler’s film in which this sexism is mocked or looked down upon.

In fact, the portrayal of women in this film is pretty dire. All of the females in this film are one-dimensional she-devils, horny grandmas, strippers, masseuses, uptight housewives, etc. Only one female character is portrayed in a slightly positive light, and that is the bartender Brie (Ciara). However, this is slightly undermined by the fact that she has three lines and exists only to keep the film from devolving into a two-hour celebration of “bros before hos.” By the way: yes, you read that right. Two hours. This movie almost two freaking hours long. Like so many other Happy Madison films we’ve seen, there’s enough substance here to fill up a five-minute sketch, if that. That this movie crosses the 100 minute mark is insane.

However, a great deal of my rage is devoted to a single revelation that comes late in the film that is more tasteless than funny. Some may disagree with how offended I am by it, but the movie does absolutely nothing to earn it. Like everything else in That’s My Boy, this reveal is not driven by character, story or humor as much as it’s driven by how R-rated it is. I have seen various commercials and previews in which the cast gives talking head interviews about how far this movie pushes the envelope. It pushes the envelope, all right, but only for its own sake. There’s no consideration given to anything else. This is the kind of movie that devotes much of the third act to an extended Vanilla Ice cameo a good 15 years after Vanilla Ice cameos stopped being funny.

Like all other Sandler productions, That’s My Boy has two distinct qualities: it is not good, and some incredibly talented people worked on it. Besides the cast members I’ve mentioned, the following actors all make an appearance: Susan Sarandon, Alan Thicke, James Caan, Will Forte and Ana Gasteyer. To me, it’s not really a mystery that Sandler is always able to get so many awesome people to participate: he is allegedly one of the nicest guys in Hollywood. Tom Wilson (aka Biff from Back to the Future) often performs a song live that includes a brief lyric about how Sandler is the nicest person he’s ever worked with. In my mind, this explains most of the cameos and castmates he’s been able to rope in throughout his career. Most disheartening to me is that the screenplay credit went to David Caspe, who created the awesome television show Happy Endings. My guess is that the finished film only slightly resembles his original script, as it's very much a product of the typical Happy Madison formula. That’s My Boy represented a chance for Sandler to break out of his bad habits and into the good comedy we all know he’s capable of, but instead he just continues to bring other people down with him.

Grade: D

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