Jack and Jill Follow-Up

Just to follow up on this because I've just discovered that Jack and Jill is directed by Dennis Dugan and that Dugan, in addition to making his feature directorial debut with Problem Child, has been responsible for 6 Adam Sandler debacles prior to this latest outing.

Looking at his list of director credits at IMDb I began to wonder if any other director with more than, say, 5 films to his name has had such low-rated films. Ed Wood is probably a close competitor.

But let's take a look at Dugan's oeuvre: 12 feature films directed. The lowest rated by IMDb users is Problem Child at 4.6/10. The highest is Happy Gilmore at 6.9. The average for the 12 is a pathetic 5.75. That maybe makes it sound better than average if you know nothing about the ratings at IMDb, but the way people tend to vote, anything less than a 6 is pretty close to unwatchable.

Because I know that people are sheep and will not only keep paying to see Adam Sandler vehicles, but will like them each time, I decided to check out the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, where Problem Child gets a 7% rating based on 15 reviews and Happy Gilmore just misses out on a "fresh" rating by scoring 59% from 51 reviews. He hasn't even had a film that rates over 6.0 since Big Daddy in 1999 and that's the only film of his in 12 years to rank at 40% or better.

According to Rotten Tomatoes, Dugan's films have received 239 positive notices based on 1070 reviews. That's 22% on a scale that counts anything less than 60% as "rotten."

So what are the chances that Jack and Jill is 1) funny; 2) competent; 3) well-received by critics; or 4) well-received by audiences?

Just when you thought he couldn't sink any lower...

Here's a trailer for what looks like one of the worst movies in recent memory. It looks awful even by awful Adam Sandler standards. And the trailer drags on for more than 2 full minutes as if it's necessary to reveal every crude, retarded, and humorless joke to the hopeless people who will lay down money to see this garbage. Someone should tell Columbia Pictures that the crowd who are interested in this will be sold the moment they see that Adam Sandler plays not just one, but TWO (!!), roles in the movie. And one of them is a woman!! ROTFLMFAO hilarity is sure to ensue.

The Wedding Singer Movie Review

First published in The Connecticut College Voice on 20 February 1998.

Republished here with minor editorial adjustments that do not affect content.

A Rubik’s Cube, a Freddy Krueger mask, a red Michael Jackson leather jacket and plenty of classic tunes are some of the icons that inhabit the romantic comedy The Wedding Singer starring Adam Sandler. This movie is one of the first in what will probably be a series of 80’s nostalgia flicks. Last year’s Grosse Pointe Blank may have paved the way but we will probably be seeing more films set in the 80’s rather than those which remember the 80’s the way GPB did.