NMR: Male bonding

Here's a pair of films from this past summer featuring guys getting together and causing trouble...

Grown Ups: It appears Adam Sandler went on vacation with his best friends and decided, hey, why not bring a camera crew with us? There's not much of a plot here, but I gather most that will be interested in seeing this really don't care about that. The film basically serves as a random collection of takes and jokes on married life and raising kids while still yearning to be a kid yourself. None of it comes off as being particularly fresh, but give the real life friendship Sandler has with Kevin James, Chris Rock, Rob Schneider, and David Spade, there's an added energy to the humor that makes it a bit more palatable. Grown Ups has a handful of decent laughs, which makes it worthwhile as a rental. If you are a fan of this gang, you'll likely enjoy this one. Rating: ***

The Expendables: Kudos to Sylvester Stallone for amassing quite a collection of action icons both old and new. Shame on Sylvester Stallone for not finding a more skilled director (he directed it himself) to make better use of all that testosterone. Seeing all of these guys together is initially a lot of fun, but that enjoyment only goes so far. The story isn't particularly interesting and thanks to Stallone's poor direction, the action scenes aren't as good as they could have been. It would have been nice if you would have sensed that these guys were in some kind of peril at some point in the film. I mean, if you're going to call the film, The Expendables, then have the guts and make one of them actually expendable. It would have also served them better to have a stronger villain. Eric Roberts is slimy, but he's not main villain material. Having someone on screen that the audience will really hate, makes the ridiculous violence that will be in the film regardless more enjoyable. Again, there's just enough here, particularly for those who were fans of these actors, to make this acceptable as a rental. Rating: ***