Eight Crazy Nights
PG-13
Playing in area theaters
Two reels out of four
I could have gone a whole lifetime without seeing an adorable herd of animated deer lick a man who’s been covered with human feces.
And that’s exactly what happens in Eight Crazy Nights, the new Adam Sandler animated movie. So much for Sandler turning over a new leaf in Punch-Drunk Love.
It would be easy to say Sandler, like an alcoholic jumping off the wagon, has gone back to his old tricks. But to be honest, if you can look past the sophomoric humor and substandard animation, there really is a lovely little holiday tale lurking underneath. Getting past the rest of it is a bear, however.
Sandler is the voice of Davey Stone, the scourge of a small town who gets in trouble with the law one too many times. In lieu of jail, the judge is persuaded to take pity on Davey and instead orders him to assist a strange little man in refereeing youth basketball. The man, Whitey Duvall (voice also by Sandler), is the size of a small child and lives with his fraternal twin, Eleanore (Sandler again). During his time with Whitey, Davey picks up a little something about human compassion and eventually learns to be a better person.
This has got to be one of the more schizophrenic movies I’ve seen in years. On the one hand, you have the usual Sandler shenanigans. In a basketball game, a losing player must eat the jockstrap of a fat guy who, by the way, doesn’t even know of the bet. In the first scene, Davey lets loose with what may be the longest burp ever recorded on film. This is the kind of stuff I’ve come to expect from Sandler.
But then there’s Whitey’s story. Here’s a guy who only wants respect from the town. But instead of seeing a sweet man who’d give you the shirt off his hairy back, the town folk see him only as a freak. And when they have a chance to give him the recognition he not only craves but deserves, they sadly drop the ball.
As does Sandler. I’m not a snob. I like some of his older stuff. There’s a time and a place for a well-placed kick in the jewels or finely tuned bathroom humor. But not here. Sandler, who is also a producer and writer, should have known better. Sometimes less is more. Maybe he was afraid people wouldn’t like the movie if it was just about Whitey and Davey. I don’t really know. As it is, most people won’t like it anyway.
Eight Crazy Nights also is notable for being the first major animated feature about Hanukkah. But, like Whitey’s story, not much is done to forward the holiday angle. As a Jew and a film fan, I would have liked to see him take it further.
Nonetheless, at this film’s heart is an important message: You shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. Who can argue with that? Certainly not Adam Sandler — who knows a thing or two about that moral.
My Wife is an Actress
French with English subtitles
Available Tuesday
Yvan Attal’s charming romantic comedy is about what happens when a regular Joe gets married to a movie star. It’s funny, it’s touching, and every minute of it rings true. It should: Attal, who also wrote the movie, happens to be married to French film actress Charlotte Gainsbourg. Attal costars as Ivan, a successful sportswriter who is having a hard time dealing with his movie-star wife’s fame. Things get further complicated when she goes off to England to make a movie with a notorious ladies’ man (wonderfully underplayed by Terence Stamp). There is also a very clever use of The Clash’s tune London Calling.
