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Directed by: Dennis Dugan Premise: A group of elementary school friends and
their families reunite for a weekend at a lake. While there the adults reminisce
on their youthful stupidity and their children gain an appreciation for nature. What Works: Grown Ups is a reunion of 1990s Saturday Night Live alumni Adam Sandler, David Spade, Chris Rock, and Rob Schneider with sitcom star Kevin James rounding out the main cast. The banter between the characters is funny and the way they relate to each other makes their relationships credible. What Doesn’t: Grown
Ups does not even have the most basic semblance of a story. There is no
goal, no conflict, no rising action, no crisis, and no resolution. The closest
the film gets to narrative occurs within individual scenes in which some
conflict is introduced but is quickly dispatched without consequences or
revelation. It is as if these actors decided to go on vacation and take a film
crew with them, and that is exactly how the film plays, with endless scenes of
the characters and their families drinking, going to water parks, camping, and
generally having a lot more fun than the audience watching the film. Grown
Ups would have audiences believe that it is celebrating family or the great
outdoors but this is a shallow film with no real perspective to offer. That
wouldn’t be so bad if there were something else to offset the superficiality
of the film but without an actual story, the film just becomes a collection of
random shenanigan by middle aged men who ought to know better. Bottom Line: Grown Ups does deliver a few laughs and people who still find the films of Sandler, Spade, and Schneider funny will probably want to check it out. But otherwise audiences would be better served by watching National Lampoon’s Vacation or The Great Outdoors
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