Jack and Jill (2011 film)

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Jack and Jill
The theatrical poster of Jack and Jill
Theatrical release poster
Directed byDennis Dugan
Screenplay by
Story byBen Zook
Produced by
Starring
  • Adam Sandler
  • Katie Holmes
  • Al Pacino
CinematographyDean Cundey
Edited byTom Costain
Music by
  • Rupert Gregson-Williams
  • Waddy Wachtel
Production
companies
Columbia Pictures
Happy Madison Productions
Broken Road Productions
Distributed bySony Pictures Releasing
Release date
  • November 11, 2011 (2011-11-11)
Running time
91 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$79 million[1]
Box office$149.7 million[1]

Jack and Jill is a 2011 American comedy film directed by Dennis Dugan from a script by Steve Koren and Adam Sandler. The film was released on November 11, 2011, by Columbia Pictures and grossed $149 million against its $79 million budget.

Jack and Jill stars Sandler in a dual role as twin siblings Jack and Jill Sadelstein, the former a Los Angeles advertising executive being visited for Thanksgiving by the latter from the Bronx. Jack is constantly annoyed by his sister, and is horrified to learn that Jill plans to stay after Hanukkah due to an open-ended plane ticket. However, when Jack is demanded by an agency for Dunkin' Donuts to get Al Pacino (as himself) for a commercial, Pacino becomes affectionate for Jill, making Jack trying to convince her to date the actor despite her disinterest in him. Other stars include Katie Holmes as Jack's wife and Eugenio Derbez as another love interest for Jill.

Jack and Jill was panned by critics and audiences, and is widely considered to be one of the worst films ever made.[2] At the 32nd Golden Raspberry Awards, the film was nominated for a record of 12 Razzies in all ten categories. It became the first film to sweep the Razzies, winning in each category including Worst Picture, Worst Actor and Worst Actress.

The film features the final film performance of the late Regis Philbin.

Plot[]

In Los Angeles, Jack Sadelstein is a successful advertising executive who lives with his wife Erin and their two kids Sofia and Gary, an adopted Hindu boy. His unemployed twin sister, Jill, lives in her working-class home neighborhood, and has been living alone since the death of their mother. She visits Jack for Thanksgiving and plans to stay until after Hanukkah with an open-ended plane ticket, to Jack's horror. She annoys her brother at the Thanksgiving dinner, also embarrassing a homeless guest and Erin's parents, and at a party by staff of his advertising company celebrating the twin siblings. Jill does various activities around the town, such as being a game show contestant on The Price is Right, going horseback riding, and touring a studio. Thinking what Jill needs is a partner, Jack and the kids teach Jill how to use an online dating site. However, her attempts to find a partner render futile.

Jack's agency client, meanwhile, wants him to get actor Al Pacino to appear in a Dunkin' Donuts commercial to promote a new coffee called the "Dunkaccino." Jack takes Jill to a Lakers game with Pacino in attendance. Pacino ignores Jack but is infatuated with Jill, as he and Jill grew up on the same street, and gives her his phone number. Pacino brings Jill to his home, though she is uninterested in him and soon leaves. Jack's Mexican gardener Felipe, also smitten with Jill, takes her to meet his family at their annual fiesta, where she hits it off with everybody.

Pacino refuses to do the commercial unless Jack gets him another date with Jill, forcing Jack to invite Jill on a cruise he initially planned only for the family. However, she still refuses to see Pacino again, so Jack disguises himself as his sister and goes on a date with the actor. Jill (hearing Pacino's voice in the background of a phone call with her brother) learns she was invited just so Pacino would do the commercial, and goes back home to the Bronx out of dejection. Feeling guilty, Jack, as well as Erin and the kids, follow her.

On New Year's Eve, Jill encounters a group of former classmates and bullies, led by Monica, at a restaurant. Jack, Erin and their kids show up, the twin siblings reconciling by conversing in their made-up twin language. When Monica attacks Erin, she is cold cocked by Jill. Pacino arrives and tells Jill that while he has feelings for her, there is another man more worthy of her than himself. She goes home to find Felipe and his children, where they begin a relationship. The television commercial is made, with Pacino starring and singing a rap song, and he disapproves of it.

Cast[]

  • Adam Sandler as Jack and Jill Sadelstein[3]
  • Katie Holmes as Erin Sadelstein
  • Al Pacino as Himself
  • Eugenio Derbez as Felipe / Felipe's Grandma
  • Tim Meadows as Ted
  • Santiago Segura as Eduardo
  • Nick Swardson as Todd
  • Allen Covert as Otto
  • Rohan Chand as Gary Sadelstein
  • Elodie Tougne as Sofia Sadelstein
  • Geoff Pierson as Carter Simmons
  • Valerie Mahaffey as Bitsy Simmons
  • Gad Elmaleh as Xavier
  • Gary Valentine as Dallas
  • Kristin Davis as Delilah
  • Norm Macdonald as Funbucket
  • Julia Perri as Sally Cashier
  • Dana Carvey as Scrapply Puppeteer
  • David Spade as Monica

The film also features cameos from Johnny Depp, Regis Philbin, Dan Patrick, Shaquille O'Neal, Drew Carey, John McEnroe, Christie Brinkley, Bill Romanowski, Michael Irvin, Jared Fogle, Billy Blanks, Vince Offer and Caitlyn Jenner (the latter prior to her transition, as Bruce Jenner) as themselves.

Reception[]

Box office[]

The film opened in 3,438 theaters at #2 with $25,003,575, behind Immortals, which debuted in the top spot with $32,206,425.[4] The film closed on February 26, 2012, with a total gross of $74,158,157 in North America. It also made $75,515,631 in other territories, for a total worldwide gross of $149,673,788 against its $79 million budget.[1]

Critical response[]

Unusually, Jack and Jill was screened for critics in Ireland but not in the United Kingdom.[5] It was panned by reviewers.[6] On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 3% based on 116 reviews, with an average rating of 2.90/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Although it features an inexplicably committed performance from Al Pacino, Jack and Jill is impossible to recommend on any level whatsoever."[7] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 23 out of 100, based on 26 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[8] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.[9] Five months before release and the film getting extremely poor reception, the film was mocked on South Park during the episode "You're Getting Old" when Stan and his friends go to the movie theater to watch X-Men: First Class, it depicts Adam Sandler's characters Jack and Jill as crap as Stan hallucinates and in Robot Chicken during Season 6 during the segment "Twist Endings" depicting Jill being actually Jack and that the real Jill died when she was young.[10] On the day of the premiere, comedians such as Jake Fogelnest launched a parody promotional account on Twitter, @JackNJillMovie, bashing the film; garnering hundreds of followers and its posts retweeted by figures such as Aziz Ansari, Paul Scheer, and Alan Sepinwall, it was taken down by Twitter that evening due to a complaint from a Sony executive.[11]

Critics from The Daily Beast, The Austin Chronicle, and Time declare Jack and Jill to be the worst Sandler film.[12]

Reviews noted issues in other Sandler films were present and even worsened in Jack and Jill.[13] Common criticisms were targeted towards the crude humor,[14] product placement,[15] celebrity cameos,[16] and a sentimental ending that contradicted the film's mostly mean-spirited tone.[17]

The A.V. Club's Scott Tobias went after Sandler's lack of passion, describing most scenes as the actor "waiting around for somebody to feed him a line".[18] Time contributor Mary Pols described a joke about Jack's obsessed fear of anti-semitism as a punch line with no joke.[19]

Peter Travers of Rolling Stone also argued, "Al Pacino said something great. After he looks at himself in the commercial, he says, 'Burn this! Nobody must ever see this!' That's my review of Jack and Jill."[20] Andrew Barker of Variety said that the film's "general stupidity, careless direction and reliance on a single-joke premise that was never really funny to begin with are only the most obvious of its problems."[21]

Pacino's performance was positively received, and some critics noted it to be one of the film's best parts,[22] although his presence was questioned.[23] The London Evening Standard found the actor (playing himself) to be "slumming" it in providing Jill one of the film's few funny parts.[24]

Despite generally scathing reviews, the film did receive some positive reception. Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle stated that while he found the character Jill annoying, "almost everything else in this comedy succeeds. The central situation...has comic energy...[the film has] successful bits and big moments of satisfying comedy."[25] Tom Russo of The Boston Globe gave the film two and a half out of a possible four stars, writing "What's more genuinely wacky is what a kick this movie can sometimes be, completely in spite of its big, flat stunt."[26] Armond White of CityArts praised the film's "comic introspection," writing that "Sandler's comedies are not 'dumb fun,' maybe that's why they're not in critics' favor."[27]

Jack and Jill was in the top five of numerous critics' lists of the worst films of 2011,[28][29][30] ranking number one on those of People's Alynda Wheat,[30] the Miami Herald's Rene Rodriguez,[30] Time's Mary Pols,[31] The A.V. Club staff,[32] and the Sioux City Journal's Bruce Miller.[33] For Rolling Stone, Peter Travers ranked it the year's second worst film and tied Sandler's performance with Anne Hathaway in One Day for his recognition of worst actor of the year.[34] In later years, it has been called one of the worst films of all-time by the Evening Standard[35] and Rotten Tomatoes,[36] as well as one of the worst Sandler films by Variety.[37]

Accolades[]

Adam Sandler (pictured) broke the record for having the most nominations in a single ceremony of the Razzies for Jack and Jill, Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star, and Just Go with It.

At the 32nd Golden Raspberry Awards, Jack and Jill won all categories, a first in the 32-year history of the annual parody event: Worst Picture for Sandler, Jack Giarraputo, and Todd Garner; Worst Actor and Worst Actress for Sandler; Worst Supporting Actor for Swardson and Pacino (of which Pacino won); Worst Supporting Actress for Spade in drag and Holmes (which Spade won); Worst Director for Dugan; Worst Screenplay for Sandler, Ben Zook, and Steve Koren; Worst Screen Couple for Sandler and either Pacino, Holmes or Sandler; Worst Ensemble; and Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-off or Sequel.[38]

Sandler also set another Razzie record with garnering 11 nominations in total, breaking Eddie Murphy's 2008 five-nomination record for the most garnered by one individual in a single ceremony. In addition to Jack and Jill, he was also nominated for Worst Picture, Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-Off, or Sequel, and Worst Screenplay nominations for Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star; and two Worst Screen Couple awards for Just Go with It.[39] Razzie founder John J. B. Wilson called "almost karmic for someone to have made that much razz-able stuff in one year", suggesting the actor "angered someone really powerful, I would say".[39]

Jack and Jill also won worst film accolades from the Internet Film Critics Society[40] and JoBlo.com's Golden Schmoes Awards;[41] and was nominated for the same type of award from the Houston Film Critics Society.[42] The Alliance of Women Film Journalists nominated the cast and crew for the "Hall of Shame" award.[43] On the other hand, Jack and Jill did receive a few positive honors. Sandler won Favorite Movie Actor at the 2012 Kids' Choice Award;[44] and Rupert Gregson-Williams won one of ASCAP's Annual Film & Television Music Awards in the Top Box Office Films category for Jack and Jill, Just Go With It, and Zookeeper.[45]

Analysis[]

Jack and Jill is another gender bendering comedy film released in the 21st century starring crossdressing male actors, including All the Queen's Men (2001), Sorority Boys (2002), and White Chicks (2004); as with other gender bender films, it questions gender identity while at the same time reinforcing social norms through its humor.[46]: 76  The film is similar to Sandler's other work for its negative portrayal of women;[47] most of the jokes revolve around Jill's appearance not fitting a Hollywood beauty standard,[48][23] and Jack's wife never has her own desires come into play.[47][49]

Similar to other movies where one actor is cast as multiple identities, it depicts a doppelgänger presenting character flaws to the original identity; Jack is a resentful man working for a vapid media industry, and his time with Jill teaches him that he needs those who love him, no matter what attributes they have.[50]: 120 

According to critic A. O. Scott, films like Jack and Jill and Grown Ups (2010) present a comedy style representative of Sandler's "grumpy, dumpy middle age" phase. Whereas his 1990s films had an aggressive immaturity with themes of anti-authoritarianism and rebuffs of decorum, his early 2010s output depicts Sandler playing a wealthy protagonist and mocks those with perceived-to-be-odd physical appearances and ethnicities.[47][48] Jack, who has a higher-status job with a house and a family, is the straight man while the target of the humor is his Bronx-residing sister's rude attitude, nasally high-pitched voice, neediness, and low intellect (i.e. her lack of knowledge of the internet).[47]

References[]

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  2. ^ Setoodeh, Ramin (November 11, 2011). "Movie Review: Adam Sandler's 'Jack and Jill' Is the Worst Movie Ever Made". The Daily Beast.
  3. ^ "Al Pacino, Katie Holmes Join 'Jack and Jill'". News in Film. Archived from the original on December 29, 2010. Retrieved December 6, 2010.
  4. ^ "'Immortals' #1 With So-So $32M Domestic But $36M Foreign, 'Jack And Jill' $26M". Deadline Hollywood. PMC. November 13, 2011. Retrieved November 15, 2011.
  5. ^ Clarke, Donald (February 6, 2012). "The strange story of the Jack and Jill press show". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on February 7, 2012. Retrieved May 11, 2021.
  6. ^ "The tragedy of Adam Sandler". Salon. November 14, 2011. Retrieved June 14, 2014.
  7. ^ "Jack and Jill (2011)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved January 2, 2021.
  8. ^ "Jack and Jill Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved November 18, 2011.
  9. ^ "Cinemascore". Archived from the original on December 20, 2018. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  10. ^ Parker & Stone 2012, 05:15.
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  33. ^ Miller, Bruce (December 30, 2011). "The Five Worst Films of 2011". Sioux City Journal. Archived from the original on April 29, 2021. Retrieved April 29, 2021.
  34. ^ "Scumtacular: The Worst Movies of 2011 'Transformers,' 'Twilight' and more". Rolling Stone. December 29, 2011. Retrieved April 29, 2021.
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  50. ^ Ruddell, Caroline (2013). Besieged Ego: Doppelgangers and Split Identity Onscreen. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 9780748692033. Retrieved April 30, 2021.

External links[]

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