Grown Ups

After venturing outside his comfort zone in Funny People, Sandler retreats into the realm of the soothingly familiar, playing a hotshot Hollywood agent who reunites with boyhood pals Chris Rock, Kevin James, David Spade, and Rob Schneider for the funeral of their beloved elementary-school basketball coach. The good times start early for the overgrown adolescents as they chuckle and joke their way through the funeral, then keep going when the party moves to a lake house where they spend a weekend reliving cherished memories and working through their very minor issues.

The prospect of five seasoned comedy professionals and old friends riffing through a relaxed, ramshackle comedy with only the faintest hint of a plot radiates promise, but the reality proves painful. The one-note performances and endlessly recycled gags—which run the gamut from jokes about Schneider’s sex-crazed geriatric wife to pop-culture-themed wisecracks about Rock’s mother-in-law’s grotesque toes—betray the toxic arrogance of coasting comic superstars who realize they can exert the least possible effort and still come away with a hit. Sandler’s self-indulgence knows no bounds: The film even concludes with him goofing his way through a song about his father. If Grown Ups were any lazier or more slapdash, it’d be a home movie.