GROWN UPS 2 (2013)

Genre: Comedy
Director: Dennis Dugan
Cast: Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Chris Rock, David Spade, Salma Hayek, Maya Rudolph, Maria Bello, Nick Swardson
RunTime: 1 hr 41 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Sexual References)
Released By: Sony Pictures Releasing International
Official Website: http://www.grownups2-movie.com/

Opening Day: 18 July 2013 

Synopsis: The all-star comedy cast from "Grown Ups" returns (with some exciting new additions) for more summertime laughs. Lenny (Adam Sandler) has relocated his family back to the small town where he and his friends grew up. This time around, the grown ups are the ones learning lessons from their kids on a day notoriously full of surprises: the last day of school.

Movie Review:

If you’re going into ‘Grown Ups 2’ looking for plot or character, then don’t even bother. Adam Sandler’s first ever sequel is no more than an excuse for him to get together with his Happy Madison pals for some male bonding time, to which he has also graciously invited some easily recognisable faces like Taylor Lautner (yes, we mean Jacob from the ‘Twilight’ movies), Shaquille O’ Neal (remember that NBA star?) and even Steve Austin. How much you enjoy their get-together really depends on how much you enjoy Sandler and Co’s brand of humour.

Anyone who’s a fan of Sandler will recognise his regular big-screen pals, many of whom like himself were ‘Saturday Night Live’ alumni - including Kevin James, Chris Rock, David Spade, Nick Swardson, as well as Steve Buscemi, Jon Lovitz, Tim Meadows and Colin Quinn in smaller parts. There is unmistakable chemistry among them honed from years of goofing off each other, so there’s really no point chiding them for indulging in man-boy humour; instead, all you should be prepared to do is to laugh along with them - and occasionally at them.

The script by Sandler and another two of his regulars - Fred Wolf and Tim Herlihy - provides the loosest structure for him to knock around with his pals. Set entirely in the course of the last day of school before summer break, it reunites Sandler’s former hotshot Hollywood agent Lenny with his trio of childhood friends - Eric (James), Kurt (Rock) and Marcus (Spade) as they plan a 1980s-styled party at his house; the only noticeable absence from the first movie being Rob, no thanks to Sandler regular Rob Schneider sitting out this adventure.

Each character gets his own individual storyline - Sandler objects to his wife’s (Salma Hayek) wish to have a fourth kid in the family; Eric secretly hides out at his mother’s place because his wife (Maria Bello) isn’t affectionate enough; Kurt is feeling excited about his “get out of jail free” pass after remembering his twentieth wedding anniversary when the missus (Maya Rudolph) hasn’t; and Marcus has just met his son who happens to be a tattooed teenage delinquent. All that, plus their children’s complications of the heart, are however just filler among the string of episodic gags and infantile humour which follow.

Keeping with the spirit of the first movie, bodily discharge is still very much in vogue; there is urination (the opening scene has a deer peeing on Sandler’s face), simulated defecation and ‘burpsnarts’ (a one-two-three combo of a burp, sneeze and fart). Ditto for leering - first with Lovitz’s janitor impersonating an aerobics instructor and getting the women to jiggle their breasts and spank their butts; then moving on to a hot ballet teacher at school; and then to a car wash by young nubile cheerleaders.

Yes, this is that kind of movie, exactly the type Swardson’s high-on-drugs bus driver can fit snugly in by stripping to his knickers, sleeping on a bed in Kmart and pooping in their toilet bowls on display. It is also that movie which Lautner’s crew of frat boys form a childish rivalry with Sandler and his pals, resulting in an impromptu insult contest, naked dives off a 35-foot cliff, and culminating in a showdown at the very party on Sandler’s home lawn where the very same deer that appears at the beginning returns for a ball-breaking finish.

Not all the jokes work, not all the humour will resonate (in particular, those that aren’t physical in nature), and the pace does slack from time to time - despite Sandler’s go-to director Dennis Dugan’s best efforts. But this is a movie that hinges on a bunch of grown-ups who refuse to grow up, that very circumstance mirrored by the kind of humour Sandler and his company indulge in and invite their audience to revel in. Call it slack and lazy if you like, but if you’re not into watching Sandler slack and laze and relax with his pals, then ‘Grown Ups 2’ ain’t for you. 

Movie Rating:

(A compendium of man-boy humour including flatulence, urination, simulated defecation, abundant leering and frat boys, this is a movie that’s all about hanging with Adam Sandler and his company of Happy Madison pals)

Review by Gabriel Chong