That's My Boy - Review

Adam Sandler’s excuse for last year’s cinematic abortion Jack & Jill has arrived, and if he has more movies in store like this one, then the apology is most certainly accepted. That’s My Boy might not be a perfect film, but it certainly stands as one of Sandler’s finest and if you’re a fan of his work, there are laughs aplenty and much to enjoy here. I caught the midnight show and the audience really seemed to eat it up.

The plot crunch: as a child, Donny had sex with his teacher and knocked her up, and when she is sentenced to 30 years in jail, he is given custody of the child. Fast forward to present day, and Donny (Adam Sandler) is about to go to jail himself for tax evasion. He needs to come up with money and do it fast, and what better way than to track down his son (Andy Samberg) and get him to participate in a filmed segment reuniting the family as they visit Mamma (Susan Sarandon) at jail?

The main storyline is pretty thin and in the end, easily resolved, but there is a surprising amount of heart between Donny and Todd/Han Solo (yes, he named his kid Han Solo) that really allows for hilarity. Speaking of laughs, there are plenty to go around with Samberg delivering some really epic one-liners. I wasn’t sure if I was going to care for Sandler’s accent or characterization in the movie at first, but after about ten minutes it just grows on you. He has this thing he does with accents which is very hit or miss. Thankfully, there’s no Jill in this movie. Milo Ventimiglia from Heroes is a major scene-stealer throughout the movie as military brother chad. Leighton Meester plays the annoying fiance quite well, and seems to be the single person who never once falls for Donny’s tricks. Vanilla Ice is also surprisingly brilliant playing himself; one of my favorite lines was about how every time “Ice Ice Baby” plays, he actually loses money. The biggest revelation for me anyways was Peggy Stewart, who plays the granny. I loved her and the raunchy lines they gave her.

The R-rating really suits Sandler and company quite well, and I think in the future he should consider sticking to it as it delivers much more mature and appropriate laughs than the PG-13 or even PG rating (Jack & Jill, I’m pointing the finger at you once again.) They really never hold back, and thematically it places itself more in the line of Sandler favorites like Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore. It shares similar mean-spirited dark humor as those two flicks. There is even a clever twist toward the end involving two of the characters that I won’t spoil in this review which most certainly wouldn’t have worked without showing the context through the R-rating.

I would also like to mention that I’m not exactly sure why the majority of trailers for this movie make it looks so tame and kind of “meh.” Honestly, my hopes were high mainly for Andy Samberg and because the storyline sounded rather interesting. Thankfully, the content within the movie is much funnier than any single TV spot or theatrical trailer that I viewed for the film. In the day and age when trailers give away some of the movie’s best/funniest/most unique scenes, it was almost refreshing to be awarded with material far surpassing anything we were shown. One of my favorite scenes in the preview (with the baseball catching in the field) still remains as epic as shown, though.

Overall, That’s My Boy is a really really hilarious treat and if you’re a fan of Sandler’s in the slightest, you truly won’t want to miss this welcome return-to-form. In what other movie this summer will you be able to see a crazy stripper, Andy Samberg screwing his fiance’s wedding dress, Vanilla Ice peeing on himself, Milo Ventimiglia wrestling Andy Samberg in his underwear, and Adam Sandler channeling his inner 13-year-old kid? Don't let poor critic reviews fool you; they never have liked Sandler films and never will. This is one of the summer’s most hilarious movies. / Rating: A-