Adam Sandlers 8 Crazy Nights
The Ultimate Battle Between Naughty And Nice.
Rating: 2/10
Running Time: 73 minutes
UK Certificate: 12A
On DVD
‘Eight Crazy Nights’ starts promisingly, with the mildly amusing doctoring of the ‘Columbia’ logo to show the short stumpy alopecia-sufferer we’re soon to have introduced to us as Eleanor. Unfortunately, that’s roughly the point where you should think about pressing the “stop” button, assuming you don’t want to spend the next hour-and-a-bit cringing over just how unfunny Adam Sandler can be.
I’ve often thought Sandler gets a rougher time of it from us critics than he probably deserves, but there’s simply no defending this pile of cartoon cack. With it’s rotten script, sub-standard animation and messy plot, it’s the very antithesis of Toy Story. It even manages to reverse the universal appeal of said Pixar flick by managing to aim for a target audience of precisely no-one. There’s not a parent alive who would allow their young ‘uns to watch this, and, if there’s any sanity left in the world, any adults likely to enjoy it are already locked up.
Sandler provides the voice of main character Davey (among others), a 33-year-old waster who’s had some sort of festive bypass operation. While everyone else in his hometown of Dukesberry celebrates Hanukkah or Christmas, he hits the bottle and makes a public nuisance of himself. Just five minutes into the film, we’ve already seen him belch in a Chinese waiter’s face, moon a group of Carol singers, make a joke about “melons”, and pretend to hump a car. Yet, for some reason local dogsbody Whitey (also voiced by Sandler) agrees to work with him, let him use his home, and inevitably show him the true meaning of festive cheer. What a load of rubbish.
Of course the great thing about animation is the endless possibilities it presents, yet Sandler and director Seth Kearsley make use of none of them. So what’s the point? Why not just make another live action Sandler flick as usual? Perhaps it’s because this is much, much worse than even the guy’s biggest detractors could expect, and without the cartoon gimmick the whole sorry production would surely sink without trace.
There’s some semi-decent writing in a few of the songs that pepper the tale, but that’s the one solitary positive thing I can think of to say about it – other than the fact that it’s kind enough to last just 73 minutes.
And another thing. Why hasn’t anyone killed Rob Schneider yet?
It's Got: A cop-out ending.
It Needs: To be avoided like the plague.
DVD Extras A choice of commentary from either the cast or crew, some deleted scenes, a music video featuring Messrs Sandler and Schneider, a photo gallery, a First Look featurette from HBO, some trailers, and a short film about Sandlers dog called A Day With Meatball. DVD Extras Rating: 6/10
Summary
One of the worst cartoons ever made. Sandlers made a few stinkers in his time, but this one out-stinks all of them.