Grown Ups 2

As I said in my July list post, I went to see this movie because my boyfriend really loves the first one (which I have not seen). To my surprise, I enjoyed Grown Ups 2. Some parts of it were over the top, but in general, it worked.



Grown Ups 2, directed by Dennis Dugan, is not Adam Sandler's best comedy, but it has it's moments. After spending time with his old friends a few years ago, Lenny (Adam Sandler) decides to move back home so his kids can grow up where he did. The movie starts with Lenny waking up to a giant deer right in his face. The deer then runs around, causing chaos in the whole house until he sees the toy monkey that Becky (Alexys Nycole Sanchez), Lenny's daughter, is clutching. It's a great start to the last day of school.

They then add in the completely unnecessary bus driver character, Nick (Nick Swardson). I hate pretty much every character he plays except Jeff in Grandma's Boy. Nick is just supposed to be funny in the movie, I know. But he is so stupid! He is high when he comes to get the kids, so Lenny ends up driving the bus. After he drops off the kids he takes it to K-Mart and the Becky's dance recital.

I can't remember if this is before or after the dance recital, but the four guys, Lenny, Eric Lamonsoff (Kevin James), Kurt McKenzie (Chris Rock), and Marcus Higgins (David Spade), all head over to their old swimming hole so that Eric can finally jump off the 30 foot cliff. They have a bad run in with a group of frat boys led by Taylor Lautner. I enjoyed the frat boys because I think they were a great hyperbolic example of college kids today. It was nice to see the old crowd as the cool guys, for a change.



Anyway, Lenny ends up throwing a big ol' 80's themed party at the end of the movie and everyone in the entire town shows up in costume. He gets some surprising news from his wife, Roxanne (Salma Hayek), and gets in a fight with the frat boys again but everything ends up being good in the end.

The movie has some really dumb stuff in it, I'm not going to lie. But overall, it was just funny. The things that I didn't really like about it were: Nick Swardson, Marcus' son Braden (Alexander Ludwig), and the deer at the beginning. All of those things seemed a bit over the top for me and really didn't add much to the movie. Although the deer does come back at the end and plays a more significant role.

The things that I did like: Salma Hayek (she is seriously hot), the 80's themed party, and seeing Taylor Lautner act like an idiot. There were other things that were good about it, but that is what really stands out to me.

These four guys have great on screen chemistry. I think that's one of the things that Adam Sandler always has going for him in his movies. They don't have to try that hard to play a part because it's not that different from how they might act with each other off camera. That doesn't seem like much, but it really brings a lot extra to the movie, in my opinion. And it's not just the four main characters either, most of the other actors in the movie play their characters with ease as well.



I give it a 7 out of 10.