Child’s play.

Director: Dennis Dugan
Starring: Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Chris Rock

There was a time when Adam Sandler was amusing – even funny perhaps. Sadly, this film proves the past tense – he was – and definitely not is.

Which begs to question how he had a hand in writing this comedy: in 1978, five friends win their junior high school basketball championship. With the coach’s encouragement to live every day as they played their match, the friends go their separate ways.

Thirty years later, the news of the coach’s death reunites the group over a 4th July weekend at the old lake house where they used to celebrate their basketball victories. What happens from that point in until the credits roll is a stab-in-the-dark attempt at humour as the friends realise growing older doesn’t mean growing up.

As plots go, Grown Ups is missing one. With a few honest laughs in between an over stretched story, Grown Ups is lacking three essential parts: good acting, good jokes, and a good story. Other than that, it’s bearable.
Boys will be boys, but unfortunately for Sandler and his friends, it’s high time they grew up.

Genre: Comedy
Age Restriction: Rated PG-13 for crude material including suggestive references, language and some male rear nudity.
Runtime: 102 min