Hotel Transylvania

Hotel Transylvania - Dir. Genndy Tartakovsky (2012)

This year saw the release of a trio of horror-themed animation films: ParaNorman, Frankenweenie, and Hotel Transylvania. Produced by Sony, Hotel Transylvania is the weakest of the bunch, but it was the most financially successful. Its strong box office run could certainly be attributed to the glossy computer animation whereas the other films were done stop-motion. While all three pictures dealt with themes of tolerance and death, Hotel Transylvania does so with a much gentler hand and doesn’t go to the darker places that Frankenweenie and ParaNorman did.

At the end of the 19^th century, Count Dracula (Adam Sandler) opens a luxurious hotel deep within the woods of Transylvania to serve as a sanctuary for his fellow monsters. More importantly, he sees it as a safe haven to raise his daughter Mavis (Selena Gomez) following the burning of his castle and the death of his wife at the hands of an angry mob. Over a hundred years later, Mavis is about to turn 118 and the Count is planning a gala birthday bash with all his best friends: Frankenstein (Kevin James), the Invisible Man (David Spade), The Mummy (Cee-Lo Green), and the Wayne the Wolf-Man (Steve Buscemi).

An American backpacker named Jonathan (Andy Samberg) inadvertently uncovers the secret location of Hotel Transylvania forcing Dracula to disguise him as a long-lost cousin of Frankenstein. However, Jonathan sparks a romance with Mavis as well as fueling her desires to finally leave the confines of her home.

Expectations were low for Hotel Transylvania considering Sandler has fallen further into self-parody as he slowly becomes the fictionalized version of himself in Funny People. Thoughts of That's My Boy floated in the air with the reuniting of Sandler and Andy Samberg. A script written by Peter Baynham (Borat) and TV Funhouse's Robert Smigel brings the distasteful fart jokes you'd come to expect from the Happy Madison camp. Somehow Hotel Transylvania manages to come together thanks to the direction of Genndy Tartakovsky of Dexter's Lab and Samurai Jack fame. Tartakovsky adopts the manic pacing of a Tex Avery cartoon and brings such energy to the picture you forget how flat a lot of the humor is. Steve Buscemi is a highlight as a sad sack werewolf worn down by his rambunctious litter of pups.

Hotel Transylvania may be too schmaltzy and saccharine for adults. The groan inducing song and dance number (complete with auto-tune) at the conclusion of the film will test your tolerance for cheese. However, the brightly colored animation and high energy are sure to entertain younger audiences.

Rating: ** (*****)

Grown Ups

Grown Ups - Dir. Denis Dugan (2010)

I may be a cinephile, but I'm no stick in the mud. I admire the works of Bergman, Tarkovsky, and Carl Theodore Dreyer. Yet, I can also laugh at the genius of Billy Madison, Happy Gilmore, and The Waterboy. Sue me.

Over the years, Adam Sandler has attempted to stretch his acting muscles in roles that are drastically different from his usual shtick. Some are successful (Punch-Drunk Love) and others not so much (Reign Over Me). In Funny People, Sandler lampoons himself and his on-screen persona to surprisingly poignant effect. As the star and co-writer of Grown Ups, Sandler appears to fall back on old habits while mixing in a touch of the family friendly fare like Bedtime Stories.

Sandler reunites with his former Saturday Night Live cast mates as standout basketball players in junior high who have drifted apart over the years. Sandler is Lenny Feder, a big-time Hollywood agent. How do we know he's a Hollywood agent? Because when we first see him, he's shouting into his cell phone that he's a big-time Hollywood agent. Lenny is inexplicably married to Salma Hayek as Roxanne, a high class fashion designer. They've got three kids with the older sons being a pair of snotty, spoiled brats. Kevin James (in a role originally intended for the late-Chris Farley) is Eric Lamonsoff, the obligatory, fun loving fat guy. His wife, Sally (Maria Bello), still breastfeeds their son despite the fact that he's four. Chris Rock is Kurt McKenzie, the domesticated, stay-at-home husband to wife Deanne (Maya Rudolph). Rob Schneider is Rob, a vegan hippie with a fetish for older women, much older women. He's in a grotesquely risqué relationship with the septuagenarian Gloria (Joyce Van Patten). David Spade is Marcus Higgins, once again playing the smarmy ladies' man.

The old buddies are reunited following the death of their coach. Lenny rents a lake house for the Fourth of July weekend so they can reminisce. Meanwhile, the gang deals with the repeated challenges of their now adult opponents in the big championship. All sorts of shenanigans happen as everyone learns valuable lessons about life. The script co-written by Sandler and Fred Wolf (Joe Dirt) sets the tone for mawkish sentimentality right off the bat with a scene where Lenny's cutesy daughter tries to use the GPS to find heaven. Yet, they still have time to break out old-fashioned scatological humor. We get fart jokes, dog poop smeared into people's faces, adults peeing in a community pool, and Maya Rudolph sprayed with breast milk. The rest of the gags feel like in-jokes between the lead actors that the audience isn't let in on. Sandler and company insult and rib each other throughout the film, but it comes off as self-indulgent when Dugan continually cuts to reaction shots of the actors as they provide their own laugh track.

The film is built around immature humor, which is ironic for a film titled, Grown Ups. Still, the movie isn't a total loss thanks to a hilarious Steve Buscemi who pops in for a couple scenes. There's also an amusing exchange between Chris Rock and Tim Meadows as they argue over who is the town's black guy and who is the other black guy.

Rating: * ½

Funny People

Funny People - Dir. Judd Apatow (2009)


Judd Apatow is the reigning king of comedy. He has a knack for portraying modern day relationships from the perspective of the overgrown man-child in desperate need of maturity. There’s also a healthy dose of raunchy, low-brow humor thrown in for good measure. Though Apatow has only written and directed two previous films (The 40-Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up), he’s stamped his name on numerous others, some successful (Superbad, Pineapple Express) and some not so much (Drillbit Taylor).

For Apatow’s third film, Funny People, Adam Sandler lampoons his own on and off-screen persona as George Simmons, a former stand-up comic turned A-list movie star. His juvenile movies usually involve him turning into a baby or a merman. George is the Charles Foster Kane of comedians. He lives in his own personal Xanadu surrounded by expensive cars and posters adorned with his face, but he is all alone. George’s life doesn’t improve when he’s diagnosed with leukemia. Along the way, he hires Ira Wright (Seth Rogen), a struggling stand-up, to be his personal assistant and joke writer. Ira becomes George’s de facto confidant and the closest thing he has to a friend. When his leukemia goes into remission, George attempts to reconnect with a former flame, Laura (Leslie Mann), now married to an adulterous Australian (Eric Bana).

Funny People is Apatow’s most polished looking film thanks to bringing on Spielberg’s long-time cinematographer, Janusz Kaminski, as DP. It’s also his most ambitious and mature picture to date. Apatow balances the story of Ira’s rising star with George reflecting on his own narcissism and self-pity. He manages to stray from a formulaic plot with a loose narrative that is both the film’s strongest and weakest point.

Funny People isn’t the lighter fare that audiences are used to from Apatow, but those light moments are some of the film’s best. The movie drifts off on humorous asides such as Ira and George riffing on each other or comparing a German doctor to a Die Hard villain. Apatow also gives us a unique, inside look at the world of stand-up comedy. Littered throughout the film are a series of cameos from various comics like Sarah Silverman, Paul Reiser, and Andy Dick. However, Eminem outdoes them all with a profanity-laced rant directed at Ray Romano.

Yet, Apatow is unable to prevent his film from collapsing underneath the weight of its nearly two and a half hour runtime. At 146 minutes, Funny People is about 30 minutes too long. While engaging for the first two acts, the final act sputters towards a contrived and overly sentimental resolution.

Commenting on his past obnoxious and immature characters, Sandler gives a well-rounded performance, one that is less self-conscious than his most publicized dramatic turn in P.T. Anderson’s Punch-Drunk Love. Shining in supporting roles are Jason Schwartzman as a smarmy roommate who stars in a cheesy Saved by the Bell-esque sitcom and Aubrey Plaza as a sardonic female comic.

Rating: **