I'll start by saying I grew up on Adam Sandler movies... I know some people don't care for his type of comedy or even some of his more dramatic roles. I cherished the 90's cult classics like Bily Madison, Happy Gilmore, The Waterboy, etc. I liked Punch, Drunk, Love. I even shamefully liked Spanglish. I know, I know.
I'm a generation X'er, which may or may not be relevant to my appreciation for Sandler. But his comedy was revolutionary at the time. It brought something different to the table. Slap-happy. Stupid. Whatever you want to call it. Albeit, dumb. It was different and unique.
Now, the cast... Wow. You've got the supporting cast that made Sandler movies great. Rob Schneider, David Spade, Steve Buscemi, John Tuturro. They had some mildly funny jokes during the movie. Most of the jokes were ridiculous and just plain childish. But I think that's half the appeal of Happy Madison movies. The cameos were random. But in my opinion, really pulled the movie together. Watching Vanilla Ice play Mark Twain was entertaining and even surprisingly funny and spot on. I mean, he scarily resembled Mark Twain. Blake Shelton playing Wyatt Earp.. Not sure who's idea that was, but it was actually entertaining as well and I think kind of matched his personality.
The plot was just okay. But really, what are we expecting? True Grit plot line? No, it's a comedy. Half the fun is the ride. The only thing I couldn't spin my head around was the fact that Adam Sandler didn't have many jokes. Seemed like everybody got the funny lines except Sandler. Unless the 'mystical' powers were all the jokes. In which case, I didn't find all too funny. After watching Pixels and Grown Up's 2, I've realized that Sandler's films are morely aimed at the younger kids now. I know I'm probably late to the party on that one, but I'm always hoping Sandler will reprise his somewhat crude humor. I even thought he was coming back to that with Funny People. I think that's just how Hollywood budgets and movies work. Financiers know people are going to pay money to watch Will Ferrell look like an "in over his head" dummy. Just like a Seth Rogen movie is going to have a lot of pot humor or Tyler Perry dressing up as a woman. People know what they're getting into before previewing. This may be why it's on Netflix.. Who knows, I don't.
If you're looking for a goofy movie the family can watch with very minor swearing, an occasional motorboat, and some borderline racial epithets, then you should be safe. I will give it to the casting crew for actually hiring Native Americans to play Native American characters. Seems like that's still a real problem in Hollywood, surprisingly. Didn't seem as some folks would say, whitewashed. Sandler did have a super tan going on. But, that's probably apart of the character living amongst native tribes. Who knows, probably just making a bigger deal than it really is, like many people and organizations are doing these days. No need to boycott the movie or anything people! And although I did say there were minor racial blah blah blahs. The movie made a point to go after everybody(races). Get over it people! Cheese-zest! I find it funny that the folks complaining of racism in the movie and walked off set, walked back on a day later to finish shooting and collect their paycheck. Please people, stop trying to kill satires. Even if they're not that funny.
I probably wouldn't watch it again. But I wouldn't tell somebody not to watch it. It's all silliness you'd expect in a Happy Madison picture.
The movie was a very sooooooft six.
