Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
80 crazy minutes, November 20, 2003
You have to realize two things to enjoy this movie.
PG-13 films are typically not for children. Parents seem to think just because its animated means "hey take the kids." Well how about we think a little BEFORE we go running to the theatre? Complains about that are just unfounded. The rating says it all, PAY ATTENTION.The second thing you must realize is that this is an ADAM SANDLER movie, like his earlier films. Billy Madison, Happy Gilmore, all crude and rude, get over it. That was his style and he brought it back to make one of the funniest adult animated movies ever. The jokes here are classic, from whiteys seizures to him doing the robot in the middle of a basketball game. His sister eleanor has the cutest voice which I've been imitating ever since I saw the movie. The townsfolk are a scream, with rob schneider as an asian waiter. and jon lovitz as a man with a hook for a hand. This is a very unconventional Hannukah movie for the holidays. Sure it's gross, but if your offended than go rent the Ya Ya Sisterhood or some crap like that.This one is for the guys, not for parents or children. Next time read the rating before you complain. Don't believe all the crap, this movie was HILARIOUS. If you like Kevin Smith movies or Adam sandler movies than see this and bust a gut laughing. (hopefully not literally)
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Enjoyable Adam Sandler, November 20, 2003
I really enjoyed this movie. Unlike The Wedding Singer, the humor was a bit more locker room gross-out, but like the Wedding Singer, it was filled with sentiment and heart. An angry Scrooge-like Jewish man learns to grieve, let go, and love the holidays again. No, it's not for small kids. That's why it's rated PG-13. Sandler shows tremendous talent and versatility as the voices of Davy, Eleanor and Whitey, the latter two being annoying elderly fraternal twins whom Davy grows to love despite their freakishness. Rob Schneider, Jon Lovitz, Kevin Nieland add their talent, as well as cameos by Tyra Banks and rock singer Ann Wilson as Davy's mom. Alison Krauss lends her sweetness as the singing voice of Jennifer, Davy's childhood love, now a single mom. The music is the most outstanding part of this film. The lyrics are silly and goofy, but also clever, and the song structures are dynamic and hooky, and will stay with you afterward. If you go into this movie realizing it's not a white-washed Disney flick for the kids, but it's a funny, sometimes gross, but sensitive Christmas story that tackles somewhat-adult issues, like why some people hate the holidays, I think you'll enjoy it almost as much as I did. It's also loaded with special features that are worthwhile, too.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Jerry Lewis is Alive and Well, December 22, 2006
I make no secret the fact that I think Adam Sandler has inherited the comic mantle of Jerry Lewis, and I think Adam would consider that a compliment. Were the ghost of Lewis to drop in for a holiday screening of this film, however, I think he'd say, "It's a good film, Adam, but it could have been great." How could it have been great? With a little restraint, instead of playing for the South Park/ Family Guy crowd, this could have been a family film. We desperately need a funny holiday special, not more schmaltzy ones, and this could have been it. Adam Sandler knows it too. He very much caught the spirit of Mr. Deeds. He shone in Big Daddy. He brilliantly calls his production company Happy Madison, saying heck if you didn't like Billy Madison (I did by the way), and refusing to be typecast as Happy Gilmore.
It also took guts to "play" Davy, not just voice him, as with the usual animation voiceovers. Davy is conflicted and Adam plays him that way. There are hints and tributes to "It's a Wonderful Life," but there are also echoes of a Jerry Lewis film called "The Delinquent". This is a PG-13 film merely for the reason that Adam had the bad luck of working when films and TV lack the restraint and limits that Lewis and earlier comedians worked within and which make for great art.
So thanks to that rating, kids won't get to see Davy struggle with tough breaks and big questions. Nor will they see the opening scene of a Chanukah menorah and nativity scene coexisting side by side. They won't even get to hear the third version of Sandler's witty "Chanukah Song". What they'll get instead is more innocuous clones of someone saving Christmas by rescuing Santa Clause from the Martians or whoever his captors are this year.
That leaves us with only A Christmas Story. Jean Shepherd, who writes his books for adults, restrained himself to make this movie family- friendly and came up with a holiday classic. Paul Reubens breathed new life into Saturday Morning by making Pee Wee's Playhouse into a kids' show. And when Davy-- I mean Adam-- decides to use his talents for kids, he'll be another Jerry Lewis.
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