Cast: Kevin James, Chris Rock, Adam Sandler, Rob Schneider, David Spade, Salma Hayek, Maya Rudolph, Colin Quinn, Maria Bello, Tim Meadows

Category: Comedy

What would be a befitting summer comedy in the United States is actually a somewhat out-of-place winter comedy upon hitting Australian shores, awkwardly wedged between higher-profile comedies (Get Him To The Greek, Toy Story 3) and cash-cow monsters (The A-Team, Twilight: Eclipse). Still, it complies with the formula for commercial success in this genre fairly stringently: easily-identifiable cast, light on plot and an uncomplicated ending wrapping up the film’s events in a neat little package.

Instead of being a film about dissecting the differences in each man’s life since losing contact with each other (with some well-scripted comedy thrown in for some light-hearted entertainment), it dosen’t really have much a plot in hindsight. I’m not implying that that’s what I expected out of Grown Ups, but it would have been a refreshing surprise nonetheless.

Rather, the film just seems to jump from gag to gag, often recycling the same material introduced in the first fifteen minutes, and lazily applying it to different situations. The slapstick is about as funny as slapstick can get in modern cinema…if applied with a bit of thought behind the set-up, it can leave you with tears of laughter. But the biggest buzzkill to the laughs that could be generated out of slapstick is predictability. We know James will hit that tree, we know Buscemi will run into the house, we know Hayek will accidently peg that rock into her son’s gut while trying to skip it across the lake. You get the idea.

Any other form of comedy used pretty much misses the mark on all fronts. Visual gags (particularly those involving Schneider and his family) become very tired very quickly, and the interplay between the characters feels forced and undeniably cliché, which is disappointing considering these are supposed to be a bunch of guys who’ve known each other for their entire childhood.

If I had to find one benefit out of Grown Ups, it would be David Spade’s performance. By no means mind-blowing, the life-loving, heavy-drinking bachelor he plays is given the best one-liners of the film, and his natural delivery and tone make him the only truly believable character. In fact, this individual was the only one that actually benefited from a lack of character development, allowing him to play his part with comfort and flowing simplicity.

While appearing as something of a waste of time to those of us who take our films seriously (high on drama, emotion and purpose), Grown Ups is, at its core, an inoffensive movie targeted towards no specific market. It dosen’t contain any single element of filmmaking that completely destroys the experience. Instead, it stumbles on a multitude of minor points that would have otherwise made it more engaging.

4/10.

Author Bio: Johnny Hollywood

One day, a good friend started calling me Hollywood because of my never-ending desire to talk about films, and the nickname stuck like glue. There’s only one thing I love more than reviewing movies, and that’s discussing them with everybody and anybody, so never hesitate to tell me what you think about my work.