Those other Adam Sandler comedies? Turns out they were the grown-up efforts.
Bedtime Stories (2008)
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Reviews Counted:102
Fresh:25
Rotten:77
Average Rating:4.4/10
Consensus: Though it may earns some chuckles from pre-teens, this kid-friendly Adam Sandler comedy is uneven, poorly paced, and lacks the requisite whimsy to truly work.
Rated: PG [See Full Rating] for some mild rude humor and mild language.
Runtime: 1 hr 39 mins
Genre: Action/Adventure
Theatrical Release:26-12-2008
Synopsis: Having promised to make a film his own kids could enjoy, Adam Sandler (YOU DON'T MESS WITH THE ZOHAN) delivers the goods in the charming fairy tale BEDTIME STORIES. As the film opens we meet Marty... Having promised to make a film his own kids could enjoy, Adam Sandler (YOU DON'T MESS WITH THE ZOHAN) delivers the goods in the charming fairy tale BEDTIME STORIES. As the film opens we meet Marty Bronson, running the family motel along with his children, Wendy and Skeeter. Marty's ruinous business sense forces him to sell the motel to ambitious developer Barry Nottingham. Marty hopes Skeeter will run the business someday, but years later we find Skeeter (Sandler) working only as the new hotel's maintenance man. So when Wendy (Courteney Cox) asks Skeeter to babysit her kids, Bobbi and Patrick, Skeeter--a master storyteller--wins them over by crafting bedtime stories that reflect his frustrations. From ancient Rome to outer space, Skeeter is the heroic underdog defeating his hotel rival, Kendall (Guy Pearce), and winning the hand of Nottingham's daughter. But when the kids' creative additions cross over into true life, Skeeter is convinced that they're the key to his sudden success. The price of that success, though, is the destruction of the kids' school. To save the school, his relationship with Wendy's kids, and the affections of love interest Jill (Keri Russell), Skeeter must bring his storytime heroics into the real world. Sandler puts his trademark man-child antics to good use as the disheartened handyman who fulfills his dreams by staying true to the people who matter most. Filled with plenty of humor and a heartfelt message, BEDTIME STORIES is an uplifting family fable that can be appreciated by parents and children alike. [More]
Starring: Adam Sandler, Guy Pearce, Keri Russell, Richard Griffiths
Starring: Adam Sandler, Guy Pearce, Keri Russell, Richard Griffiths, Courteney Cox, Lucy Lawless, Teresa Palmer, Russell Brand, Aisha Tyler, Jonathan Pryce
Director: Adam Shankman
Director: Adam Shankman
Screenwriter: Matt Lopez, Tim Herlihy
Story: Matt Lopez
Producer: Adam Sandler, Jack Giarraputo, Andrew Gunn
Composer: Rupert Gregson-Williams
Studio: Walt Disney Pictures
Reviews for Bedtime Stories
Bedtime Stories champions imagination while having too little originality itself.
The new Disney movie Bedtime Stories presents a taste test for moviegoers: Do you prefer your Adam Sandler regular strength or in the new mild format?
It's a dispirited, galumphing mess in which Sandler, as a hotel handyman who spins out tall tales for his niece and nephew, pictures himself in assorted historical-kitsch guises.
Bedtime Stories is not my cup of tea. Even the saucer. Fairness requires me to report, however, that it may appeal to, as they say, 'kids of all ages.'
Bedtime Stories is baloney on Wonder Bread with a Kraft Single and some Miracle Whip -- barely lunchable.
The novelization of the screenplay probably would make a pretty decent bedtime story.
Bedtime Stories is clean enough to fly the Walt Disney Pictures flag, yet it's full of bimbos and cleavage and shots of Adam Sandler getting kicked in the shins by a dwarf.
For parents who aren't Sandler fans, Bedtime Stories may seem like just another dumb comedy that their kids will drag them to over the holidays.
It takes two bad genres -- live-action Disney dreck and lowest-common-denominator Sandler humor -- and blends them into one unfunny mess.
Bedtime Stories is like watching a Michel Gondry movie rewritten and directed by Uwe Boll.
Sandler's mischievous heart just doesn't belong in a straight-up kid zone like Bedtime Stories, especially one with a script that doesn't elevate beyond the expected.
Box-office commodity Adam Sandler is repositioned as kid-friendly in Bedtime Stories, a Disney movie that plays better on a balance sheet than a screen.
Bedtime Stories isn't Sandler's best movie, nor is it his worst; it's just perfectly harmless fun that the kids will probably love just a little bit more than their parents.
In a modern-day fairy tale about hopes, aspirations and family, Sandler displays a winning form under the light and mischievous direction of Bringing Down the House's Adam Shankman.
The shortage of wit and the excess of goo can be summed up in Sandler's line to these children of divorce: 'I'm like the stink on your feet -- I'll always be there.'
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December 23, 2008:
There is one big Sandler moment, when he discovers how to use a sandwich to brush his teeth. But I'll pass on the Cinderfella part, where instead of shoes, he promises to stick around 'like the stink on your feet.' Nose clips, please. ![]()
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