What two things do Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, David Spade, Rob Schneider, and Kevin James all have in common?  Well they all used to be on Saturday Night Live, and they all USED to be funny.  Well ok technically Kevin James was never a regular on SNL, but he could have been, and from the way this film plays you might never know the difference. 

The movie itself is a reunion movie as five elementary school friends reunite to share a weekend outdoors with their families.  All five of them were on a championship basketball team and 30 years later when their coach dies, they return to their hometown to attend his funeral.  Lenny  Faber (Adam Sandler) is a Hollywood agent and married to fashion designer Roxanne (Salma Hayek), Eric “Babbay” Lamonsoff (Kevin James) is an assistant manager married to Donna (Maria Bello), Kurt McKenzie (Chris Rock) is a stay at home father married to a very pregnant Deanna (Maya Rudolph), and Rob Hillard (Rob Schneider) is married to Gloria (Joyce Van Patten) despite the fact that Gloria is 30 years older then him.  Marcus “Dickie” Higgins is the only one among them who isn’t married and he spends most of the movie getting drunk and ogling women.  All these men, their bratty kids and all head to Lenny’s cabin to reminisce about the good old days.  I had to wonder if the good old days were interesting and or funny, because the present day certainly is not.

One of the things that a good comedy can do is take funny characters and situations and wrap them up in a heartwarming message.  Recent movies such as Get Him to the Greek, and She’s Out of My League do a great job at doing just that.  Two things that set these successful movies apart from THIS one are interesting characters and a good script.  All of the characters, and I do mean ALL of them, in this film seem incredibly flat.  In a sense they seem more like characters I might see on a SNL sketch.  In fact you will recognize several SNL cast members in the movie aside from its stars: Colin Quinn, Norm MacDonald, Tim Meadows, and even Steve Buscemi make cameo appearances in the film.  Now sketch characters aren’t so bad except when they are asked to carry you through 90 minutes of film.  And by the end of THIS film, you are glad to see them go away. 

The other thing that hampers this film is the script.  Written by Adam Sandler and Fred Wolf the story is a mess of stale jokes, missed opportunities and a never ending battle of trying to decide what kind of movie it wants to be.  Sandler wants us to see these families come together and realize that the best part of life is simply being with each other.  But the language and the dialogue that is used to get us there is either so far out there or right in our faces.  As a frequent moviegoer I’m rather taken back when you insult me with trite dialogue that hits me over the head with a lofty ideals. Good movies use the narrative and dialogue to help me come up with these same ideals on my own, making a much more powerful experience.  I could forgive all of that IF the film was funny.  I can recall two, maybe three actual funny scenes, the rest reminded me of an SNL sketch that missed the mark.  Oh please let this end…  

So you may ask, why did you go see this movie?  That is a great question and one I am happy to explain.  My son had his braces removed and his Mom promised to take him to any movie he wanted to and buy him a big tub of popcorn.  Well, she never kept up her end of the bargain and so when I got him this weekend I told him I would keep her promise.  He really wanted to see this film, and so off we went.  My son and the other 13 year old kids in the house really enjoyed the film, and sometimes that’s enough to make a movie going experience better; my kid liked it so I feel good.  Sadly, despite my son’s enjoyment I couldn’t get past the trite that was on the screen.  So unless you’re 13, or if you have 90 minutes of your life you are willing to just toss away, you’ll want to stay as far away from this film as possible.  I’m not even going to recommend renting this, even if you are a diehard SNL or Sandler fan.  Go do something fun like play Bionic Commando or something.

What to say about this one . . . It’s the one that started it for me (which you know, if you read my last review). Had I not seen the cyborg Captain, I might have never discovered Doctor Who at all, or maybe would have, but much later. This story is far from perfect, but, having said that, it has a lot going for it thanks to an inventive script by Douglas Adams of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy fame.

Tom Baker once agian reprises his role as the Doctor and Mary Tamm is back as Romana. This story has four parts and aired 9/30/78 to 10/27/78. It is the second story in the Key to Time season story arc.

The first episode opens with our villains (notably, the captain, yelling at Mr. Phibulie, as he does throughout this four part serial), and then introduces more supporting characters, one of whom is ill, having been targeted by a cult of yellow robe clad zombie types. It is soon revealed that they have psychic powers, which it bears noting a lot of respectable people actually believed in in, back in 1978, along with ESP and Pyramid Power. I mention that, because it would have seemed much less fantastical than it does today.

Tom Baker is his entertainingly nuttiest, sort of an early indication of how his portrayal will develop over the next few years. He’s having fun with the role, and as is the audience, right along with him. Mary Tamm’s Romana is a great foil for him, more serious and bookish. I adore her and wish she had stayed on for more than one season. As much as this is the Key to Time season, it is also the Mary Tamm season. Lalla Ward’s take on the role was different, and I don’t think I like it much less, but it seems like one is always going to like the companion one starts with more than the others. That’s the case with me, though I do have a soft spot for Elizabeth Sladen’s Sarah Jane Smith and Wendy Padbury’s Zoe, and . . . well, you get the idea.

Douglas Adams really delivers with this script. This is a very inventive tale, with twists, new tech, great characters, and lots of jokes, some stolen from himself. He had not yet sold Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy to the BBC. For those unaware, before it was a movie, or television show, or stage play, or record, or book, it was a radio drama on the BBC, and if you have never heard it, I recommend you get all five seasons (phases, they call them), as it is the very best way to experience that story, bar none. People attached to the book will note that it is quite different in sequence and substance, but remember, it is the original, so it’s the book that is the departure, not the other way around. I also think, the people in the radio cast influenced him in the book writing and helped solidify the characterizations he employed in novelizing his radio play. I honestly can’t imagine other people playing those parts though I have seen the movie. Interestingly, most of the radio cast came back for the TV production, but a limited budget ensured that that series would be severely lacking. Still, worth checking out an early visual realization of Adam’s signature creation. He had a deep imagination and a real knack for comedy and liked to say he invented the sci-fi comedy genre. I’m not sure about that, but I believe he did give us it’s greatest contribution thus far and it’s not a stretch to say his view of the world greatly influenced mine, but I digress.

Acting wise, The Pirate Planet is quite good. Almost everyone is very convincing in their roles, save the Captain, who is completely over the top. but even that works, given how his part is written, and when he later warms up and calms down. The art direction is mostly good. I don’t see the relationship between the interior and the exterior of the ‘bridge’ but like the design of both. You can see the budget limitations here and there, but mostly it all quite well done. I’ve always had an issue with the effects in this one, mostly on account of the Captain’s flying robot parrot, which only really flies -convincingly- on one occasion, a real disservice to a nicely realized robot design.

I highly recommend this one, but only to fans. There’s enough goofiness and production foibles to turn casual viewers off (he says, admitting this was his own introduction to the series, lol). It’s fun to try and spot the Adams recycled jokes and also nice to see a fairly successful Doctor Who that’s a space fantasy, because that’s not a genre Doctor Who does to often. It was surely a Star Wars influence, but not overtly so. It does drag a little in the middle, but it opens and closes with such aplomb, one ends up almost forgetting the sagging center.

Review by: Jarrod

2008 has been a pretty solid year for comedies so far. For every disappointing stinker like Semi Pro and Drillbit Taylor, we’ve had some great ones like Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and, most recently, the instant classic that was Pineapple Express. However one thing that has been missing is Ben Stiller: The man who, from 2004-2007 starred in no less then FIFTEEN movies (Seriously. IMDB that shit. I‘m not kidding). I think we all kinda needed a bit of a break from Stiller, and he’s back in the director’s chair for the first time since the hilarious Zoolander. On top of that, he also starred, co-wrote, AND produced this movie. Needless to say he’s put a lot of work into this one, and it shows. This is easily his funniest movie since Zoolander, and one of the funniest movie of the year.

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Okay, so I’m pimping some family shit here but it’s good quality stuff so I don’t feel so bad. This little web show is called Roadents and it’s the creation of my brother, Justin Hilden. It’s an ongoing web series distributed by Sony Pictures and features Pee-Pee and Buttercup cruising down the highway in a motor-home and annoying each other to death.

I know. It makes me laugh too.

So, this week we find them playing a little game of truth or dare. I’m sure that’ll go well. If you dig this, then you’ll be happy to know you can find another 18+ episodes for your perusal on YouTube and the much better looking Hulu.com.

Enjoy.