What distinguishes this freewheeling, strangely honest comedy (directed by first-timer Nicholaus Goossen) is its puff-and-pass-it-along view, an inviting, goofy-grin attitude toward insular losers.
Grandma's Boy (2006)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:57
Fresh:9
Rotten:48
Average Rating:3.5/10
Consensus: A gross-out comedy that’s more gross than comedic, Grandma’s Boy is lazy and unrewarding.
Runtime: 1 hr 39 mins
Genre: Comedies
Synopsis: Alex (ALLEN COVERT) has one sweet life. After walking away from his death by accounting job, he's now a video game tester at Brainasium, the company responsible for the worldwide gaming phenom of... Alex (ALLEN COVERT) has one sweet life. After walking away from his death by accounting job, he's now a video game tester at Brainasium, the company responsible for the worldwide gaming phenom of "Eternal Death Slayer." At 35, he may be the oldest tester in the business (he's called "Gray Bush" by his co-workers), but he's also the best. But when his roommate fails to pay the rent for six months because he's spent every last cent at Madame Wu's Filipino Palace ("They're not hookers, they're massage therapists!"), Alex unfortunately finds himself on the street. His friendly dealer Dante (PETER DANTE) can't let Alex crash because he has a business to run and besides, the guard lion will be arriving any day. His friend Jeff (NICK SWARDSON) agrees to put him up, until that unfortunate accident involving Alex and the action figure in the bathroom…which Jeff's mom happens to, well, catch. Alex's last resort is to move in with three hot babes—that's what he tells his friends, at any rate. In actuality, the 35-year-old finds himself living with his sweet and loving 80-year-old grandma Lilly (DORIS ROBERTS), along with her two roommates: the "been there, done that repeatedly" octogenarian Grace (SHIRLEY JONES) and the not-quite-all-there, overly medicated Bea (SHIRLEY KNIGHT). Lilly dotes on Alex and keeps him housed and fed—in exchange for a few simple chores around the place, like taking out the trash and sandblasting the house. So things are busy for Alex both at his new home and at work. Brainasium's New Age-y honcho Mr. Cheezle (KEVIN NEALON) has brought in hotshot (and really hot) gaming exec Samantha (LINDA CARDELLINI) from New York to help whip "Eternal Death Slayer Three" into shape before its street date. Seems the series' creator, über-nerd wiz kid J.P. (JOEL DAVID MOORE), has been coasting on his rep—he was a millionaire by the time he turned 13—and his newest entry has a few bugs. The game's kinks are no prob for Alex and the Brainasium testers (most of whom just started shaving), which leaves time for Alex to help Lilly with the house and to try and bag his new hot boss while continuing to work in secret developing his own game, called "Demonik." Things start to get tricky, though, once the cat's outta the bag about who Alex is really rooming with—that is until the gray ladies warm to Alex's friends at an after-work party, thanks to that special tea they found in his room. Who knew 80-somethings could be so at home with video geeks, a low-key dealer, an African tribesman and a smattering of strippers, along with their colorful clientele? Amazing what a few tokes and tequila slammers will do to loosen things up. But when jealous nerdboy J.P. swipes Alex’s "Demonik" and tries to pass it off as his own, it becomes a battle of Gen-Xers versus gin players when Samantha produces a secret weapon: Alex's grandma (and now master gamer) Lilly. --© 20th Century Fox [More]
Starring: Allen Covert, Shirley Knight, Shirley Jones, Linda Cardellini
Starring: Allen Covert, Shirley Knight, Shirley Jones, Linda Cardellini, Peter Dante, Doris Roberts, Kevin Nealon
Director: Nicholas Goossen
Director: Nicholas Goossen
Screenwriter: Allen Covert, Nick Swardson
Composer: Waddy Wachtel
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Reviews for Grandma's Boy
Even if you aren't under the influence, you might find yourself chuckling at various points during the movie, if only in disbelief at some of the things the cast is asked to do.
This is one of those movies where you stay rooted in your seat just to see how bad it can really get. And every time you think it has hit the bottom, the filmmakers find a passage taking them lower.
Grandma's Boy combines pot-smoking, big breasts, African bushmen, octogenarians, video-gaming techno-geeks--and one inappropriate masturbation scene--in one feel-good movie perfect for teenage boys. If they can get in, that is.
it's funny but so lowbrow you'll actually feel your brain cells dying
No one here has the slightest idea what being elderly actually means or that old folks may once have been (and may still be) far hipper than the young men and women looking at them with fond incomprehension.
Those who like America Pie and its spawn will likely find comfort in the jokes here.
There is no doubt that it belongs in Hollywood's sewer, but it's the gem of the sewer this year.
As a short it could have emerged as inspired, but as a feature it feels tired, deflated, and far too familiar.
It's plenty stupid, often funny and occasionally pithy. That may add up to a movie you want to see, or it might add up to a movie that will make you ill.
"Grandma's Boy" is a pot- and potty-mouthed relative of an Adam Sandler movie.
Covert is so obnoxious, so lacking in the basic understanding of comic timing, that we understand why he has to get his buddy Sandler to give him work.
One of the most humorless attempts at comedy since the invention of Rob Schneider.
Just as a few bong hits would probably make the movie a tiny bit funnier, they would also probably make all memories of the film blissfully vanish.
It's a miracle that Jones, Knight and Roberts emerge with most of their dignity intact. Too bad the same can't be said for everyone else involved in this total waste of time.
If nothing else, Grandma's Boy answers the question of what a ramshackle early Adam Sandler movie would be like without Adam Sandler.
It's a one-line pitch in search of an actual script. And, given how difficult it is to sell a screenplay to a studio, much less get it made, it's really sad to see something this lazy and meager actually work its way through the system.
Sufficiently oddball and the performers sufficiently likable to keep the whole thing from being painful.
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