I took a brief respite from the heavy Oscar films and caught Adam Sandler's most recent film, Bedtime Stories through Netflix. Despite the fact that it had the taint of "Disney family film", I was still interested in seeing this as I tend to still enjoy Sandler's films.
I don't know if I just caught this one at the right time or what, but I ended up really enjoying this one. Yes, the humor isn't as crass as it is in most of his previous films, but I found myself still laughing quite a bit throughout the film. A handful of Sandler's regular sidekicks (i.e. Rob Schneider) appear here, but the film is really helped by some of the additional cast, namely Aisha Tyler and Russell Brand, who plays Sandler's friend.
If you didn't see the commercials, the film's premise is that Skeeter Bronson (Sandler) is asked to babysit his niece and nephew. Every night he tells them a bedtime story and the following day the events of the story end up coming true. The film does a nice job of coming up with a variety of cliched bedtime stories (cowboys and indians, fairy tale, outer space tale, etc.) and weaving in elements that will work with the events in Skeeter's life.
As we see the bedtime stories unfold, everyone in the cast gets a chance to have fun playing characters in the story. This gives the film an added level of energy that prevents the film from ever becoming boring even if the plot is pretty familiar. Unlike Night at the Museum, this film has a liveliness to it that makes it more appealing to a wider audience. I never found myself embarassed that I was watching a "kids film" because it never felt like I was.
Yes, Bedtime Stories employs some tired plot devices and has a deus ex machina conclusion, but I didn't mind it here. Those are the things you tend to absolutely loathe when the film is bad, but also tend to ignore when you're having a fun time. In this case, I was able to look past those flaws.
I should mention once more how refreshing Russell Brand was in this film. He steals the show with his usual bag of wackiness that fits right into this movie. I also enjoyed Keri Russell, who plays the potential love interest. She doesn't do a lot of films, but I'd like to see her do more, especially in these 'girl next door' type of roles. I'd be neglectful if I forgot to also mention Guy Pearce. Here's another actor who isn't in a lot of films (outside of one my favorite all time films, Memento) but works nicely as Sandler's foil here.
I wouldn't say that you need to rent this immediately, but if you stumble across it, you may want to give it a look. It's a fun film that's likely to be enjoyed by people of all ages. I certainly hope that this doesn't mark Sandler's permanent move into family films, but on this occassion he showed he can do nice just as well as naughty. Grade: B+
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