HUBIE HALLOWEEN | FILM REVIEW
Dir: Steve Brill (12A, 103 mins)
Another substandard comedy from Adam Sandler for Netflix, cashing in on the Halloween season. After the shouty highs of Uncut Gems at the start of the year, Sandler returns to the lame comedies he has regularly churned out for years, creating a ‘character’ by sticking out his lower jaw and doing an annoying mumbly voice as manchild Hubie Dubois, a well-intentioned figure of fun in his home town of Salem. Kids and adults alike treat him with disdain, throwing things at him and ignoring his safety-conscious repertoire. As Halloween approaches, this self-appointed town guardian finds himself caught up in several supernatural happenings with his trusty Swiss Army thermos flask at his side.
There’s new neighbor Steve Buscemi, a baffling Sandler regular, adding some weight to his spooky new neighbor with a werewolf secret. Modern Family’s Julie Bowen is the foster mother who has always liked him, but who Sandler has always had a crush on, but been unable to ask out for 30-odd years. There’s an escaped psychopath on the run, a college party that gets out of hand and lots of falling off bicycles with bearded Paul Blart Mall Cop, Kevin James, the police officer investigating. The lame script limps from setup to setup delivering few chuckles, a recurring boner-themed joke falls flat every time it happens and the tone flits from terrible kids television to single entendre in the blink of an eye. Ray Liotta, Ben Stiller, Maya Rudolph and – unfortunately – Rob Schneider also cameo, joining in the ‘fun’ as people go missing on Oct 31. June Squibb’s mum’s succession of inappropriate T-shirts are diverting, and she plays it straight as the concerned matriarch adding some forced heart.
Ultimately, Sandler has to save the community and save the day amidst references to other, better films before getting to an overtly clumsy and sentimental climax. A hollow bad dream, even the outtakes at the end aren’t funny, making this a Salem witch trial of its own.
words KEIRON SELF
Streaming on Netflix now