Hi, good review! I thought this movie was pretty dumb. It was just silly and full of holes. Why would the water park even have a pulley that goes straight into a shack? You'd think they'd have been sued long before that. Also, Adam Sandler and Salma Hayek? Dream on, Sandler. But then, Michael Douglas got Catherine Zeta-Jones, so I guess anything is possible.

This movie is sort of a guilty pleasure. I mean I know it's NOT good and there's little plot to it, but I REALLY have a soft spot for Sandler and co. I don't know why. Of course, I don't always enjoy his movies (eg. Zohan, Little Nicky, etc.), but I do enjoy this one. It's actually pretty entertaining when I saw it in theaters (yes, I did), although I haven't seen since. However, my opinion may change. I still love your review, Matthew!

Is that despite the plot holes and bad writing, the story concept itself really had good potentional, it could have been a momental comedy about childhood friends reuniting after all these years and catching up, having fun, being silly; you know, a comedy about something we could all relate to.

But somewhere along that road it just took a nosedive into mediocrity.

And it hurts because I really like Kevin James I really think he is a funny guy. :(

Peter Griffin while watching Grown Ups: THERE'S NO CONFLICT IN THIS MOVIE!

I agree with you there. Haven't seen it since I was in theaters.

I feel the same way, Canon. Every part of my brain tells me this movie is awful, but for whatever reason, I enjoy watching it. I, too, saw it in theatres at the behest of a friend who enjoyed it, and went in with really low expectations, and if you set your standards low enough and turn off all brain function, the movie is actually watchable.

Same with me. Even though it is really silly and does have problems with it, I find it hard to actually hate the film. It does have a good premise and at the end of the day it is just Sandler and Co. having fun. Overall, it is a guilty pleasure as well.

I HATED this movie! I am very pleased to see someone else agrees with me. Almost EVERYONE I know who has seen this loved it? It's a bad movie with bad writing! and after watching it I liked none of the characters because they were all genuinely horrible to one another, and didn't deserve to have friends....bad form Sandler....bad form.

What? You know people who love it? First review I ever read of it said it was Sandler's way of getting back at you, the audience, for not watching Funny People.

David Spade never has been, and never will be, attractive. I hate his show on CBS, it's like he's trying to be Barney Stinson Lite.

As for Funny People? I saw it in theaters with my sister who had (at the time) recently broken up with her boyfriend. Suffice to say, it didn't exactly help her need for some comedy when she got a movie about relationships.

And unfunny people.

I hated seeing the trailers and commercials for this movie. I hated even more that some people were laughing along with the trailer and seem to look forward to seeing the movie. My opinions of the human race as a whole dropped.

Nice one, Matthew. You gave this piece of garbage the trashing it deserved. I have nothing against silly humour and have enjoyed some of the stupider films made by these actors, but you hit the nail on the head when you said this was just lazy.

My opinion on this movie was Sandler was trying to go for a "Great Outdoors" vibe, but failed miserably. "The Great Outdoors" dragged on at times too, but at least there were laugh out loud (hysterically) moments. I didn't laugh once when I saw this film. I was able to predict the whole story before the funeral was even over. *sigh* I feel like I wasted my day when I first watched it.

John Candy was one of the very few fat comedy actors who generally didn't use his weight as a punchline. I miss him.

After seeing this review, all I can think is, "Why is this called 'Grown Ups?'"

Same impact I got from "The Messengers."

Nice job on the "Going Overboard" joke. As of today, it's #45 on IMDB's Bottom 100.

I also like Maria Bello. I think she did a nice job in "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor," a movie that I like.

9:45- It's at this moment of the film where I tell it to shut it's noise hole.

Thank God I never saw this movie.

In an alternate reality, the Kevin James part is played by Chris Farley. I don't think it would have made the movie better, but it bums me out a little.

Jesus, come to think of it, considering the group of people, and the theme of an old friend dying, they couldn't have come up with anything more emotionally affecting? Not like they had any real life events they could draw from. That is perplexing at best.

You know what? That's exactly my thoughts about Kevin James playing Chris Farely in this film! It's also a shame, cause I think i'm one of the only few people who really enjoys David Spade's sarcastic-asshole schtick. It worked in the emperor's new groove!

Do I find David Spade attractive? If I were his age, yes. It's like Voltaire, yes I do find him attractive, but since he's old enough to be my dad, that weirds me out to keep my distance.

Ok, that ass shot I could live without. But I'm sure if he were in his early 20's that'd be more attractive.

Is anyone else finding her legs weird? A) She doesn't even have an ass to oggle at, she's all legs. B) Her legs seem to take up 1/2 of her body. And remember what I said about guys who are old enough to be my dad keeping me at a distance? These guys would make me run if I'm sure my body wouldn't disgust them since I'm not a size 4 with no ass.

Why are animals getting hurt a sign of desperation? It's like dead baby humor, it's sick. /sigh Why can't we have some sophisticated dark humor? (Yes, there is a difference, dark humor pokes fun at a part society tries to hide cause it's ugly)

I thought that was adorable, but it's completely in the wrong movie.

Wow...someone really should call the police, especially since someone other then their stupid asses could get hurt.

Ouch, careful or you're going to offend a lot of people including doctors.

Why would a doctor even put him in a cast like that? That causes people to suffocate!

Oooooh, guilty humor, something a little closer to comedy. You'll hate yourself for laughing.

Glad I didn't go see it. Great review as always Film Brain.

I thought that woman's legs looked wrong too. They made me think of the women in Linkara's review of "22 Brides", in which all of the women's legs looked three times longer than their torsos. In that comic it was because there were so many low-angle shots of the women, but this...? It just looked completely unnatural! My best guesses would be that she was either digitally enhanced, or the woman had some kind of ass-reduction surgery so her legs only LOOK longer due to lack-of-ass.

bait and switch movie
thoughtt this gonna be kinda of a reunion of the snl 90's cast but they do nothing with it
they don't intermix with the characters they did in the sketches
but as a family movie goes you could do worse
little FUCKERS

I don't like Sandler either; Big Daddy and 50 First Dates were decent, but hardly the laugh-out-loud classics that people make them out to be.

Well, this review pretty much solidifies my opinion that Matt knows what crap is.

This movie just made me miss Chris Farley more...
Happy Gilmore was the greatest movie ever made! :D

Happy Gilmore was definitely a great movie. I can't believe Ebert not only detested that film, but actually flaunted this opinion as if it conclusively proved his reviewing brilliance.

Well Film Brain,I love all your reviews,You Phelous and NC are my favorites,But I have to disagree with you here.While the movie is not great,its not horrible.I found myself laugh at several scenes.But maybe thats because I grew up with people like Adam Sandler,Rob Schneider and Chris Farley (RIP,I dont like Kevin James in this movie as I feel there just trying to feel the Chris Farely Void)I loved the concept of this movie but it wasn't executed in the best way.Some Jokes work,alot Don't,but it is in no means horrible.To me its a guilty pleasure.

Is there a rule that says if you play a character in a movie, his name has to be completely different from yours? If there is such a rule, I guess George C. Scott was all wrong for Patton.

A little bit of a guilty pleasure.

I found it funny, but found it had no plot.

As a movie, I wouldn't recommend it, and I wouldn't watch it again. But it was okay.

I really, really hated this movie.

I watched the preview for this movie, and just three things in that preview turned me off: Rob Schneider, Adam Sandler, and that urinating-in-the pool joke. I've read about that rumor, and it's not true. Do you know what color urine really is in a chlorinated pool? Yellow!

is another in a long line of success for Sandler. Ponder that for a minute, ponder that the god awful JUST GO WITH IT is only other 100m dollar film this year, and you got a star who is perfect RICH DOUCHE. Which, as we all know, the US has a thing for RICH DOUCHES.

Damnit...I wish you weren't right...

"I dont like Kevin James in this movie as I feel there just trying to feel the Chris Farely Void."

@MovieBuff 3000: Thank you MovieBuff! That is the exact same thing I have been saying since this movie came out. I saw Grown Ups in theaters and every scene with Kevin James that's riddled with fat jokes, prat falls, and the dancing around with the KFC bucket on his head, all I kept thinking about was that the character was meant to be played by Chris Farely if he were still alive. But since he's not, they had to find a substitute which is Kevin James. Hell, even Paul Blart is a Chris Farely movie if Chris Farely were alive.

As for Adam Sandler playing the same annoying/jerk yet forced lovable character, I think my brother best summed it up by stating that Adam Sandler plays borderline retards. Keeping that in mind, along with the fact that in just about all his movies (well his Happy Madison movies) save for Little Nicky, The Waterboy, Zohan and maybe Happy Gilmore, all his characters usually land the unbelievably hot chick, I can tolerate Adam Sandler movies.

I actually like Grown Ups. I thought it was pretty funny. Yeah, there's little to know plot and quite a bit of the secondary characters come off as unlikable, I still enjoyed the movie. Though I definitely wouldn't call it one of the funniest movies I've ever seen, it got a few laughs out of me and is probably best viewed for when you just want to watch a movie to laugh and nothing more.

Great review Mathew!

You can't really do a snarky review of a comedy, because a comedy already has jokes and is funny already. Besides that, a movie has to take itself seriously and fail at it's intended goal in order to be snarked.

Then I realized, this movie isn't funny at all. And Sandler seriously thought it was, which is why it is perfect fodder for Bad Movie Beatdown. Good job on the review.

P.S. From your statements, it seems you are saying that Tim Meadows is the only reason to go see this movie, strictly because he was funny this one time in his 20+year career as a comedic actor? Uh...no thanks. I'll pass on 'Grown Ups'

I wouldn't say Tim Meadows is a good reason to see this. For a start, he's in it less than 5 minutes.

If you want to see Meadows being funny, see Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.

At first I thought 'Yeah, Adam Sandler's earlier movies were better' but then after I thought about them for a moment, I realized that it's less that his earlier movies were better and more that they stopped being funny when I turned 17.

Great review! I really, really dislike Sandler films... though, to be fair, I hear he's actually a pretty nice guy.

Which review/film is that clip from at 0:10? (The one with the woman in the cloud bikini)

It's from the dream sequence of The Ugly Truth.

Clearly this movie is about five maniacal geniuses trying to damage their kids. Sandler is trying to make his kids into clones of Paris Hilton, sadly their sex tapes were edited out of the movie. James is trying to make his kids into the mother from What's Eating Gilbert Grape. Again the scene where he hung himself was cut out.

Rock and Schneider are both trying to prove that homosexuality is a choice. Rock is trying to do this by being as emasculated as he can, but Schneider had a much bolder approach. By having two incredibly sexy daughters (really Film Brain, just one shot of them in their bathing suits) he's attempting to turn the homely one into a man-hating lesbian.

Spade is there to rape all the children furthering their decent into madness. It's so obvious I'm surprised you missed it. When you need an actor that screams pedophile you call David Spade. Or Steve Buscemi.

It's a shame that you missed all that because this was one of the best horror films I've seen in years.

I have never seen good Adam Sandler movie and this one is not that either.

With all these big names, the film at great potential. But it just fell flat.

First of all: thanks. I had this movie on my list of movies to rent because it looked like a spot on project by these comedians, at least judging by the trailer. Which is the same thing that happened to me with "mall cop", the trailer looked like they finally "nailed" the char and the tone, but the movie was a complete disappointment. This "Grown ups" movie is exactly the same: a painful to watch disappointment. It's incredible how they wasted such a great opportunity once again.
Thanks again! You saved me from watching this shit!

To the mother that is breast feeding her 4 year old, giving in to everyone of your child's request because you don't like to say no IS BAD PARENTING.

Actually, studies have shown that the length of breast feeding leads to more independent adults when they grow up, allowing the child to wean himself at his own pacing is a sound parenting choice, he'll end up with considerably less dependence issues than someone like me who was never breast fed at all.

I don't know about the psychological effects. What Rurik said makes sense, but if the mother fails to introduce solid foods to her child after six months, the child will still depend on her milk, and breast milk alone can not give the child all the nutrients he needs to grow properly. I think I can safely say that a child who is given the choice to eat solid food will eventually wean himself off the milk.

Actually, I do know about some psychological effects. In an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond, Ray's mother says that she never breastfed her sons, because she didn't want them to grow up with an obsession for breasts. That's ridiculous! That's like never breastfeeding your daughter because you're afraid she'll grow up to be a lesbian. My point is that nothing is better for a baby's mental and physical health than breastfeeding.

I apologize for my previous message. I have a bad habit of rambling.

Thanks for reviewing this bomb shell, Film Brain. And to think I ALMOST went to the movies to see this.

Also, did you happen to notice how Kevin James was trying to be like Chris Farley? The keyword being TRYING.

I miss Happy Gilmore