Author: EVula
Date: 5/19/03
Rating: 8.9
Movie Rating: R
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First off, yes, I am the only computer nerd who went to see a movie this weekend and didn't go see Matrix Reloaded. Get over it. :P
The perfect movie for those of us who need a bit of a release every once and a while. Adam Sandler and Jack Nicholson are an excellent (if not a bizarre) pairing. Both are extremely passionate actors, and both manage to out do the other in most of the scenes of the movie.
Here's the summary: Dave Buznik (Sandler) is an executive's underappreciated assistant, flying to meet his boss to deliver a big presentation (that he did, but his boss is taking credit for). On the plane, Sandler has a bit of a situation with a stewardess, and gets sent to Dr. Buddy Rydell's (Nicholson) anger management class. From there, it goes downhill, and Nicholson has to move into Sandler's apartment (and life) to help him "get the anger monkey off his back." Not only does Sandler have to deal with Nicholson living in his apartment (sleeping in his bed, no less), but he has to deal with him coming to work with him (and insulting his boss) and (successfully) putting the moves on his girlfriend, while Sandler keeps getting more and more frustrated.
The jokes and pranks in the movie are all over the place. You've got a little high-brow comedy here, some low-brow comedy there, some subtle jokes tossed around, and you've got a lot of "that poor bastard" humor in there throughout the movie (like Meet the Parents). Sandler starts off as a meek guy, unable to express his emotions, and some of the humor comes from that, while Nicholson swings from happy and nice to psychotic and back at the drop of a hat. Funny stuff.
There are a ton of other recognizable actors that have supporting (if even that) roles in the movie. The incredibly-wonderful Marisa Tomei (Marisa, if you're reading this, will you marry me? No? Alrighty.) plays Linda, Sandler's girlfriend. John C. Reilly (if you saw Chicago, he was Roxie's husband) plays Sandler's childhood nemisis, who is of course now a monk (you'd think that having a confrontation with a monk would be difficult, but it was quite easy...). Woody Harrelson is in the movie too, which I certainly wasn't expecting, as a cross-dressing prostitute (and man, is he ugly). Lynne Thigpen (the judge) is in this movie, too, which is rather sad, as she died rather recently. Heather Graham also has a small role in the movie.
There are also a couple of actors in the movie that have been in other Sandler movies. Remember the cross-eyed guy from Waterboy, the one with the funny voice? He's in this movie as one of the other people in Nicholson's anger management class. Remember the servent guy from Mr. Deeds (John Turturro)? He's in this too, as Sandler's assigned "anger ally."
If you're not an Adam Sandler fan and don't think that you'll enjoy the movie, go see it anyway. I'm not an Sandler fan either (Waterboy is the only movie of his that I actually liked), but this isn't the usual sophmoric humor that some of his other movies (like Happy Gilmore or the one where he's in school again) are. It's very funny.
The movie isn't quite perfect. It's got it's cheesy moments (like when Rudy Guiliani (not an actor, the actual guy portraying himself) yells out "you can do it!"). And if you hate movies where the good guy gets picked on and has shit keep happening to him despite his best intentions, be warned: this is one of those movies. When the movie is over, you'll have a few periods of "well, if this was because of this, why and how did that happen?" but if you just stop thinking about it, you'll enjoy the movie just fine. :)