The Review at a Glance: ( max score: 5 )
Film:
Extras:
Audio/Video total rating:
( Max score: 100 )
80
Studio and Year: Columbia Pictures - 2010
Feature running time: 102 minutes
Genre: Comedy
Disc Format: BD-50
Encoding: AVC (MPEG-4)
Video Aspect: 1.85:1
Resolution: 1080p/24
Audio Format(s): English/French/Portuguese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles: English, English SHD, French, Spanish, Portuguese
Starring: Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Chris Rock, David Spade, Rob Schneider, Salma Hayek, Maria Bello, Maya Rudolph
Directed by: Dennis Dugan
Music by: Rupert Gregson-Williams
Written by: Adam Sandler, Fred Wolf
Region Code: A,B,C
Blu-ray Disc release Date: November 09, 2010
"Boys Will Be Boys...Some Longer Than Others"
Film Synopsis:
Just because you grow older doesn't mean you have to grow up! Comedy superstars Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Chris Rock, David Spade and Rob Schneider are at their hilarious and outrageous best playing childhood friends who reunite one holiday weekend to relive the good old days. It doesn't matter that these five guys are now respectable businessmen, husbands and fathers. Once they get back together, nothing is going to stop these kids-at-heart from having the time of their adult lives in this hilarious and heartwarming film that proves men will be boys from the people who brought you Click.
My Take:
Oh man, what happened to these guys?? I remember back in the late 90's when a new Adam Sandler flick was a sure fire riot. From 'Happy Gilmore' to 'The Waterboy', I enjoyed almost all of his comedies, I even thought 'I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry' had its moments.
'Grown Ups' didn't. I couldn't believe the amount of failed jokes and cringe-worthy moments. The funniest moments were a long-winded (pun intended) running fart joke that squeaked out a few times over this movies way too long runtime of 100 minutes.
The movie really has no plot. When High School Coach Bobby Ferdinando hear his final buzzer, the 5 boys of his only championship basketball team reunite for his funeral. Oh ya, the team they beat is still whining about Lenny Feder's (Adam Sandler) last second shot. They claim his foot was on the line. Oh can you feel the conflict?? I was hoping/thought the movie was going to end when my wife said, "but they need to play the basketball game". We looked at each-other in agony.... Besides those plot points, NOTHING else really happened. Oh, they went to a water-park and we saw Norm McDonald's rear-end. Oh that reminds me of what I tried to forget, we see multiple men's rear ends here. My how desperate they were for a laugh!
Starring Adam Sandler (The Wedding Singer) Kevin James, (Paul Blart: Mall Cop), Chris Rock (Lethal Weapon 4), David Spade (Tommy Boy), Rob Schneider (Deuce Bigelow), Salma Hayek (Frida), Maria Bello (A History of Violence) and Maya Rudolph (Away We Go), I really was hoping I would find it better than I had heard. I like raunchy dumb humor, as long is its funny. Too bad these guys have tamed down and tried to appeal to a family audience; the edge as been officially lost, my friends. Put it this way, I liked 'Wild Hogs' more --they were similar in a mid-life crises type of way. There were a few laughs (Mommies milk, the beefcake from Saskatoon and Kevin James' rope swing come to mind) and some heart-warming moments, but not enough of either to make it worth-while.
Parental Guide:
Rated PG-13 for crude material including suggestive references, language and some male rear nudity.
AUDIO/VIDEO - By The Numbers:
REFERENCE = 92-100 /
EXCELLENT = 83-91 /
GOOD = 74-82 /
AVERAGE = 65-73 /
BELOW AVERAGE = under 65
**My audio/video ratings are based upon a comparative made against other high definition media/blu-ray disc.**
(Each rating is worth 4 points with a max of 5 per category)
Audio: 82
- Dynamics:
- Low frequency extension:
- Surround Sound presentation:
- Clarity/Detail:
- Dialogue Reproduction:
Video: 78
- Resolution/Clarity:
- Black level/Shadow detail:
- Color reproduction:
- Fleshtones:
- Compression:
'Grown Ups' comes to Blu-ray Disc from Sony Home Entertainment featuring 1080p AVC encoded video that has an average bitrate of 23.3 mbps and DTS-HD MA 5.1 Surround Sound that has an average bitrate of 3.5 mbps.
'Grown Ups' was not filmed with an eye towards creating a striking image and that is clear looking at this Blu-ray release from Sony. It looks as if it was treated well, having no artifacts or issues, it just looks over saturated and a little soft. Blacks were inky, but at times details were lost in the shadows. Complexions tended to look a bit waxy, but over saturation and limited fine details can do that. The colors were a bit on the warm side with a golden/red hue to the image. That did bother me in the beginning but eventually I settled in with its color scheme and was fine with it. If only the finer details were more visible.
The DTS-HD MA 5.1 Surround Sound track was right on par with the video presentation. It was good, at times very nice but mostly just pedestrian. I took note of the surrounds just twice during the film. Most of what I heard was confined to the front sound-stage and it felt a bit confined. There was not too much in the way of dynamics or weight other than the obligatory loud music via scene/location changes that we are so accustomed to in assembly line comedies these days. I never lost track of a word of dialogue, I just never took note of more than that.
Bonus Features:
- Commentary with Director Dennis Dugan
- (HD) The Cast of Grown Ups: Featurette
- (HD) Gag Reel
- (HD) Deleted Scenes
- (HD) Riff-O-Rama
- (HD) Dennis Dugan: Hands on Director
- (HD) The Lost tapes of Norm MacDonald
- (HD) Busey and the Monkey
- (HD) Previews: The Other Guys, Salt, The Karate kid, Easy A, Stomp the Yard: Homecoming
- BD Live Enabled
- Movie IQ
Final Thoughts:
Playing it safe doesn't make good comedy for me. This bunch usually went a little raunchy or weird, but not with
'Grown Ups'. This is a plot-less, by-the-numbers family comedy that will be forgotten quicker than Vanilla Ice's new TV show. Even the special features are a few blasé 5 minute short featurettes of little substance. If you are interested in the making of a bad script and badly executed film, you can listen to director Dennis Dugan talk about how the lighting here made everyone too saturated with a lack of detail (OK he doesn't say that). I suggest a pass, rental at most.
Lee Weber
AVS Forum Blu-ray Reviews
Reference Review System:
JVC DLA-RS35 1080p High Definition Front Projector (Calibrated by Jeff Meier)
Custom 1.3 Gain 128" 2.37:1 CinemaScope Screen
Pioneer SC27 Receiver (Calibrated by Jeff Meier)
Pioneer Elite BDP-23FD Blu-ray Player (HDMI Audio/Video)
Triangle Zerius Speakers (7.1)
SVS PC13-Ultra Subwoofer
