Grown Ups (film)

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Grown Ups
Five adult men riding yellow inflatables on a big blue waterslide.
Theatrical release poster
Directed byDennis Dugan
Written by
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyTheo van de Sande
Edited byTom Costain
Music byRupert Gregson-Williams
Production
companies
Distributed bySony Pictures Releasing
Release date
  • June 25, 2010 (2010-06-25)
Running time
102 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$80 million[1]
Box office$271.4 million[1]

Grown Ups is a 2010 American comedy film directed by Dennis Dugan and written by Adam Sandler and Fred Wolf. It stars Sandler, Kevin James, Chris Rock, David Spade, Rob Schneider, Salma Hayek, Maria Bello, and Maya Rudolph. The film tells a story of five lifelong friends who won their middle school basketball championship in 1978 and reunite three decades later for a 4th of July weekend after learning about the sudden death of their basketball coach.

Grown Ups was produced by Sandler's production company Happy Madison Productions and was distributed by Columbia Pictures.[2] Sandler, Rock, Schneider, and Spade all joined the cast of Saturday Night Live in the 1990–1991 season; supporting cast members Colin Quinn, Rudolph, Tim Meadows, and Norm Macdonald have also been SNL cast members. Despite receiving unfavorable reviews from critics, it grossed $271 million and led to a sequel titled Grown Ups 2 (2013).

Plot[]

In 1978, childhood friends Lenny Feder, Eric Lamonsoff, Kurt McKenzie, Marcus Higgins, and Rob Hilliard win their junior high basketball championship. They celebrate at a lake house with their coach Robert "Buzzer" Ferdinando.

Thirty years later, Lenny is a wealthy and successful Hollywood talent agent, married to fashion designer Roxanne and has three children named Greg, Keithie, and Becky. Eric claims to co-own a lawn furniture company and has two children named Donna and Bean. His wife Sally still breastfeeds Bean. Kurt is a stay-at-home father, has two children named Andre and Charlotte, his wife Deanne is pregnant with their third child, and her mother Ronzoni lives with them. Marcus is a slacker and lothario. Rob is married to his much older fourth wife Gloria.

When Buzzer dies, the five friends reunite for his funeral in their hometown with their families. Lenny rents the Earnshaw family's lake house for everyone to stay over Fourth of July weekend, though his family is leaving early to attend Roxanne's fashion show in Milan. He pushes Greg and Keithie to play outside and runs into his childhood opponent Dickie, who claims Lenny's foot was out of bounds when he made the winning shot.

As the friends spread Buzzer's ashes, Rob breaks down over his failed marriages and reveals that he has invited his estranged daughters Jasmine, Amber, and Bridget to visit. The men play “arrow roulette”, shooting an arrow straight into the air and Rob wins by not running for cover, but the arrow impales his left foot. Lenny is thrilled to find the kids playing with cup-and-string telephones; Roxanne realizes the positive impact the weekend is having on their children, and tells Lenny to cancel their Milan trip and stay at the lake instead.

Everyone visits Water Wizz where Marcus flirts with Jasmine and Amber after buying them skimpy bikinis, and Eric teaches Bean to drink real milk. The families cause chaos throughout the park: the wives attract a bodybuilder, then jeer at his high-pitched Canadian accent; Rob assaults slide attendant Norby when he insults Bridget, and Eric ignores Donna's warning about a chemical in the children's pool that turns urine blue. At the zipline attraction, Lenny's group meet up with Dickie and his former teammates including Wiley, who is severely injured after crashing into a shed while sliding down the zipline by his feet.

Returning to the lake house, Lenny teaches his son to shoot a bank shot, and the couples end the night dancing together.

The next day, Rob attacks Marcus, mistakenly believing that he slept with Jasmine, and Marcus admits to feeling insecure compared to his happily married friends. Everyone comes clean about the state of their lives: Roxanne confronts Lenny for canceling their flight to Milan before they left home, and he admits that he wanted their family to have a normal vacation; Deanne confronts Kurt for spending time with the Feders' nanny Rita, but Kurt retaliates by pointing out how she under-appreciates him; Eric reveals that he was laid off from his job; and Rob admits what everybody already knows – that he wears a toupee. Gloria helps everyone reconcile, and Lenny and Kurt offer to help Eric start a new business.

On their last day at the lake house, Lenny and his friends agree to a rematch against Dickie, Robideaux, Muzby, Tardio, and Malcolm. The game culminates in Lenny and Greg facing Dickie and his son, but Lenny misses the game-deciding shot. As the families watch the Fourth of July fireworks, Lenny tells Roxanne that he let Dickie's family win to get him off his case, and felt that his own family needed to know what losing feels like. A drunken Marcus plays another game of arrow roulette, and the crowd flees in panic. Trapped in a full-body cast, Wiley is struck in the foot by the arrow declaring "We win again!" before fainting.

Cast[]

  • Adam Sandler as Lenny Feder, a Hollywood talent agent who has Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts as some of his clients.
    • Michael Cavaleri as Young Lenny Feder
  • Kevin James as Eric Lamonsoff, a friend of Lenny and former worker at a furniture company.
    • Andrew Bayard as Young Eric Lamonsoff
  • Chris Rock as Kurt McKenzie, a friend of Lenny who is a stay-at-home dad.
    • Jameel McGill as Young Kurt McKenzie
  • David Spade as Marcus Higgins, a friend of Lenny who is a slacker and lothario.
    • Kyle Brooks as Young Marcus Higgins
  • Rob Schneider as Rob Hilliard, a hippie friend of Lenny who has been through three marriages with women nicknamed "The Eater", "The Cheater", and “The Beater" and also wears a toupee that extends his hairstyle.
    • Joshua Matz as Young Rob Hilliard
  • Salma Hayek as Roxanne Chase-Feder, a fashion designer and the wife of Lenny.
  • Maria Bello as Sally Lamonsoff, the wife of Eric.
  • Maya Rudolph as Deanne McKenzie, the wife of Kurt.
  • Joyce Van Patten as Gloria Noonan, an old woman who is Rob's fourth wife.
  • Ebony Jo-Ann as Mama Ronzoni, the mother of Deanne and the mother-in-law of Kurt who has a poor relationship with Kurt.
  • Di Quon as Rita, an Asian nanny who works for Lenny and Roxanne and whom Lenny passes off as an exchange student in front of his friends.
  • Colin Quinn as Dickie Bailey, a restaurant chef at "Woodman's Eat in the Rough" who is Lenny's childhood rival.
    • Hunter Silva as Young Dickie Bailey
  • Steve Buscemi as Wiley, one of Dickie's friends.
  • Tim Meadows as Malcolm, one of Dickie's friends who is a rival of Marcus. Meadows wore a bald cap for his role.
    • Christopher Borger as Young Malcom
  • Madison Riley as Jasmine Hilliard, the tall daughter of Rob from one of his past marriages.
  • Jamie Chung as Amber Hilliard, the daughter of Rob from one of his past marriages and the half-sister of Jasmine.
  • Ashley Loren as Bridget Hilliard, the daughter of Rob from one of his past marriages who has his looks and the half-sister of Jasmine and Amber.
  • Jake Goldberg as Greg Feder, the older son of Lenny and Roxanne.
  • Cameron Boyce as Keithie Feder, the younger son of Lenny and Roxanne and brother of Greg.
  • Alexys Nycole Sanchez as Becky Feder, the daughter of Lenny and Roxanne and younger sister of Greg and Keithie.
  • Ada-Nicole Sanger as Donna Lamonsoff, the daughter of Eric and Sally.
  • Frank Gingerich and Morgan Gingerich as Bean Lamonsoff, the four-year-old son of Eric and Sally and younger brother of Donna who was originally breast-fed his milk.
  • Nadji Jeter as Andre McKenzie, the son of Kurt and Deanne.
  • China Anne McClain as Charlotte McKenzie, the daughter of Kurt and Deanne and the sister of Andre.
  • Dan Patrick as Norby, a water park employee who is pushed down a water slide for insulting Rob's daughters.
  • Tim Herlihy as an unnamed pastor who presides over Buzzer's funeral.
  • Blake Clark as Bobby "Buzzer" Ferdinando, the old basketball coach of Lenny, Eric, Kurt, Marcus, and Rob who later dies years later.
  • Norm Macdonald as Geezer, a fisherman. Most of his scenes in the film, where he interacts with Lenny and one scene where he takes a liking to Bridget, were deleted.
  • Jonathan Loughran as Robideaux, a cross-eyed man who is one of Dickie's friends.
    • Connor Panzner as Young Robideaux
  • Kevin Grady as Muzby, one of Dickie's friends.
    • Jeremy Waver as Young Muzby
  • Richie Minervini as Tardio, one of Dickie's friends.
    • Daniel Cohen as Young Tardio
  • Jackie Sandler as Jackie Tardio, the wife of Tardio.
  • Sadie Sandler as Sadie Tardio, the daughter of Tardio.
  • Sunny Sandler as Sunny Tardio, the daughter of Tardio
  • Dennis Dugan as Referee
  • Lisa M. Francis as Dickie Bailey's Wife
  • Berkeley Holman as Dickie Bailey's Son
  • J.D. Donaruma as Marcus' Father
  • Alec Musser as Water Park Stud, a buff Canadian who speaks in a high voice.

Production[]

Filming commenced in Essex County, Massachusetts, in August 2009.[3] Chebacco Lake was used to portray the fictional Amoskeag Lake where the Earnshaw family's lake house setting was.[4] Woodman's of Essex was used for the restaurant "Woodman's Eat in the Rough.[5] Water Wizz was also used for the water park scene.[6][7]

Release[]

Box office[]

Grown Ups grossed $162 million in the United States and $109.4 million in other territories for a worldwide gross of $271.4 million against a production budget of $80 million.[1] Grown Ups surpassed Click to become Sandler's highest-grossing film worldwide.[8][dead link] Happy with the gross, Adam Sandler showed his appreciation by buying brand-new Maserati sports cars for his four co-stars.[9]

Critical response[]

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 11% based on 169 reviews and an average rating of 3.5/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Grown Ups' cast of comedy vets is amiable, but they're let down by flat direction and the scattershot, lowbrow humor of a stunted script."[10] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 30 out of 100 based on 32 reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[11] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.[12]

Connie Ogle of the Miami Herald referred to it as "the perfect poster child for this maddening summer of movie mediocrity."[13] Rick Groen of The Globe and Mail criticized what he saw as blatant commercialism, saying the cast "lob[bed] gags they surely disdain at an audience they probably despise while reserving their own laughter for that off-camera dash all the way to the bank." Richard Roeper went as far as to say that it was "a blight upon the bright canvas of American cinema", and that he hated it.[14] Tom Long of the Detroit News called it "trite comedy" and "total garbage."[15] On the other end of the spectrum, Lisa Kennedy of the Denver Post called it "crude and decent-hearted" and "easy, breezy, predictable."[16]

Awards[]

Rob Schneider was nominated for a Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actor for the film, but lost to Jackson Rathbone for both The Last Airbender and The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.[citation needed]

The film won at the 2011 MTV Movie Awards for the "Best Line from a Movie" category, which it won for the line "I want to get chocolate wasted!", delivered by Becky, played by Alexys Nycole Sanchez.[citation needed]

Home media[]

Grown Ups was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on November 9, 2010.

Sequel[]

Main article: Grown Ups 2

A sequel, titled Grown Ups 2, was released on July 12, 2013. Dennis Dugan, the director of the first film, returned as director. The main cast, including Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Chris Rock, David Spade, Salma Hayek, Maya Rudolph, Maria Bello and Steve Buscemi reprised their roles, except Rob Schneider. New cast includes Andy Samberg, Taylor Lautner and Patrick Schwarzenegger. The sequel follows Lenny Feder as he relocates his family back to the small town where he and his friends grew up.[17] Like its predecessor, Grown Ups 2 received very poor reviews[18] but was still a box office hit.[19]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c Grown Ups (2010) Box Office Mojo
  2. ^ Tatiana Siegel (February 10, 2009). "Columbia pic gets Sandler and friends". Variety. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
  3. ^ Shanahan, Mark (May 18, 2009). "Adam Sandler et al. get to work on "Grown Ups"". Boston Globe. Retrieved May 24, 2009.
  4. ^ Kirkley, Eli (August 10, 2015). "4 Famous Movie Lakes and Their Actual Location". Lake Homes Realty Articles and Info - LakeHomes.com.
  5. ^ Carbone, Gina. "Adam Sandler film shoot prompts restaurant closure in Essex, Mass". seacoastonline.com.
  6. ^ "The Most Famous Water Park in Massachusetts". TripSavvy.
  7. ^ Waterhouse, Gail (July 4, 2013). "Water Wizz in Wareham rides Hollywood wave". The Boston Globe. Retrieved July 3, 2014. Not many family-run businesses can say they’ve been featured in a Hollywood film, but Water Wizz has been in two major motion pictures in four years. The first was Grown Ups, a 2010 movie produced by Adam Sandler.
  8. ^ "Adam Sandler Movie Box Office Results". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved February 12, 2018.
  9. ^ Bowman, Zach (November 11, 2010). "Adam Sandler gives the gift of Maserati to Grown Ups co-stars". Autoblog.com. Retrieved September 2, 2013.
  10. ^ "Grown Ups (2010)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved July 16, 2021.
  11. ^ "Grown Ups Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved June 26, 2020.
  12. ^ Nicole Sperling (June 27, 2010). "'Toy Story' wins at the box office, while 'Grown Ups' scores and 'Knight & Day' lags behind". Entertainment Weekly. earned a B from audiences, according to CinemaScore
  13. ^ Connie Ogle, Grown Ups (PG-13): Five goofballs and a funeral, Miami Herald (June 24, 2010).
  14. ^ Rick Groen (June 25, 2010). "Grown Ups: How low can they go? Just watch". Globe & Mail.
  15. ^ Tom Long, Review: Adam Sandler's 'Grown Ups' is a lazy, trite comedy, Detroit News (June 25, 2010).
  16. ^ Lisa Kennedy (June 23, 2010). "Movie review: "Grown Ups" — or are they?". The Denver Post.
  17. ^ "Grown Ups Sequel Planned". ComingSoon.net. Retrieved December 7, 2011.
  18. ^ "Grown Ups 2". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved September 4, 2014.
  19. ^ "Grown Ups 2 (2013)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved September 4, 2014.

External links[]

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