#121: Jack and Jill
Release Date: November 11th, 2011
Format: Streaming (Tubi)
Written by: Steve Koren and Adam Sandler
Directed by: Dennis Dugan
1.5 Stars
I’ve heard David Spade say in interviews that during his time on SNL he was a nervous wreck, riddled with imposter syndrome. Meanwhile his castmate Adam Sandler, apparently, would tell people that after SNL he was going to be in Hollywood movies like Eddie Murphy. While Spade would hide himself in his office and labor over writing sketches, Sandler liked to hang out with castmates and make prank calls to local businesses.
For whatever reason, Adam Sandler seemed to have an innate confidence in himself and his ability to get his friends together and be funny. It’s been the central theme of his film career.
Is it a successful approach to filmmaking? Maybe. The guy is worth half a billion dollars and there are plenty of people that will say their favorite comedy is Billy Madison or Happy Gilmore or The Waterboy or The Wedding Singer.
But what do we make of Sandler’s later-stage theatrical comedy career? Whether the quality slipped (it was never great to begin with) or his target audience simply grew up, Gen X and older Millennials witnessed first-hand how his films devolved from stuff like Mr. Deeds, to stuff like Click, to stuff like Jack and Jill.
Sure, Sandler is having fun making them, but they aren’t…good. I know they’re comedies, but they just aren’t serious movies.
The bits in Jack and Jill are lazy and inconsistent. The tone shifts wildly from trademark violent Sandlerian slapstick to schmaltz to implausible visual gags. The characters aren’t believable, and their actions don’t make sense. There are garish, extended product placements throughout the movie, from Sony to Royal Caribbean to Dunkin’ Donuts.
But the confidence Sandler has that his audience will like it anyway is unshakeable, for better or worse.
It doesn’t help him with Jack and Jill. The movie just throws stuff at the screen. Some of it works, most of it doesn’t. It gets pretty tiring by the final act, but I can’t say it’s worthless. Any movie that gets Al Pacino - yes, the real Al Pacino - to rap and dance in a fictional Dunkin’ Donuts commercial for their new Dunkuccino has something going for it. You also get a smorgasbord of cameos from whoever Sandler thought would be fun to hang out with in 2011, from A-listers like Johnny Depp, to old SNL friends like Norm and Spade and Carvey, to random celebrities like Shaquille O’Neal and Kaitlyn Jenner and Jared Fogel (yikes).
I’m sure everybody had a blast making it. Watching it is a different story.
