Man vs. Bee (2022)

Man vs. Bee (2022)

 

4/10

 

Starring

Rowan Atkinson

 

Directed by David Kerr

 

This new Rowan Atkinson project is similar to his work as Mr. Bean. The difference is that this character (Trevor) is crafted as just an unlucky divorcee father who becomes obsessed with little things and loses all sense of decorum for himself, his environment, and the people around him.

Man vs. Bee is the new comedy series on Netflix, which plays like a movie chopped into nine parts of varying lengths, mostly between 10–12 minutes. We get to see Trevor show up at his new job as a house sitter. The same Trevor is having issues with his ex-wife about being unavailable when it comes to their daughter.

Trevor’s mishaps can be seen through the eyes of a man who is just unlucky and gets too obsessed with things he should just overlook. At the start, you’re okay with things falling and catching fire when they should, and him trying to fix things so that he doesn’t get into trouble in the end. Then, you get the feeling this is not new, and you start to guess your way around. The predictability of the first few episodes may be something Atkinson picked up on, so they decide to step things up in a new way.

They took his total lack of care for his environment up a notch to the point where it becomes unrealistic.

Who cares about a clumsy fellow? Here comes the wrecking ball of a human. I get that this comedy is not meant to be realistic, but the clumsy and silly nature, which was predictable, is better than the unrealistic nature of his being. It was like they threw caution to the wind and did things I couldn’t believe anyone— even someone like him in real life—would be able to do.

This man went crazy trying to kill a bee. After he was left to care for the home with all the codes and needed gestures to manage this modern house, Trevor had a bee fly in as a visitor. He chased it with everything he could lay his hands on, resulting in him burning the house, destroying a car, trashing the paintings, and almost killing a dog.

In the end, even though I didn’t hate the ride, I think this series wasn’t a step up from the Mr. Bean character but more like the Johnny English character, just not as good.

You can take a dive into this movie/series—it’s about 90 minutes long in total, so you can just run through it like you're watching a movie.

Anger Management (2002)

Anger Management (2002)

 3/10

 

Starring

Adam Sandler

Jack Nicholson

Marisa Tomei

 

Directed by Peter Segal

 

Anger Management was a movie I saw way back then, and I never recall seeing it again after watching it just once. I remember many of the things that happened in it, especially the incident at the ending and how it was all set to make Dave (Adam Sandler) a better person, to stand up for himself, and not hold everything in, but that was it for me.

Seeing the movie again in 2022, I can say this is a very boring, unfunny movie that made less sense than it tried to. The whole idea could have been done better if they made Buddy (Jack Nicholson) normal. I even think the movie would have been funnier if everyone around Dave acted normally. The over-exaggeration of characters and the portrayal of Buddy as a man who uses unorthodox methods to treat his patients would have made more sense if it was toned down a lot—not a little, but a lot.

There’s no celebration to be had for the story or the acting. Everything about this movie comes across like one of those bad Hallmark movies you’re forced to watch because you have a guest who’s easily entertained by ridiculousness.

The movie starts with a pushover named Dave who is in a great relationship with Linda (Marisa Tomei). He was on a work trip when things got out of hand quickly. First, his seat was taken, and he had to find another one, which led him to sit next to Buddy. While seated, Buddy kept disturbing him during the flight with his laughing and later asking Dave to join him in watching the in-flight movie. Dave asked the flight attendant for headphones, and she overreacted, which led to Dave getting sentenced to 20 hours of anger management.

Dave thought he could get out of it, but in the one session he attended, we see him snap at the doctor, who by a weird coincidence happens to be his seat partner, Buddy. He refused to let Dave off easy, so Dave had to finish the class. He gets assigned an "anger buddy," someone he could call when things got out of hand, which landed Dave in more trouble, and he could face jail time if he doesn’t get his anger issues under control.

The movie failed to make me care about Dave, who I believe, if I were in his shoes, would have attempted to kill Buddy earlier than he did.

Very unrealistic, boring, and not funny. This is a movie I wish I had left in the cage of my mind when I saw it back then and couldn’t recall what happened.

Mr Deeds (2002)

Mr Deeds (2002)

 5/10

 

Starring

Adam Sandler

Winona Ryder

Peter Gallagher

Jared Harris

 

 

Directed by Steven Brill

 

Back then, seeing this, I had no idea that this was a remake of the classic Frank Capra movie from 1936, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town. I haven’t seen the classic this movie is based on, but I can bet it holds more water than this. I guess back then, Sandler must have believed that violence was fun to depict on screen. Because Deeds (Adam Sandler) was a gentleman who seemed to get violent with people who either treated him wrong or just treated others he liked wrong. How this was an amiable character for the lovable Deeds we were supposed to be rooting for goes over my head.

I am giving this movie a 5/10 because of the nostalgia from the times in my life when nothing much mattered, and I wish I could be so myopic a believer in the world’s goodness once again.

The movie is not bad—it still managed to hold my interest, even though the story needed work. Also, the acting looked dull at times, and the movie seemed like something everyone got into because they believed it would be fun. You can see it in their acting and the way the characters were exaggerated that the people involved seemed to be having fun making this movie. It looked like that, and I hope that’s how it was.

The movie starts with a man trying to conquer a mountain. He died doing so, and it turns out he is worth over $40 billion, and he had no children or a wife. His company did some investigation and found a distant relative of his living in a remote village in New Hampshire, Longfellow Deeds. Deeds was approached and given the news that he was going to be rich. He was also convinced to sell his shares in the company and just live out his life with his money.

Deeds travels to New York in style and has to wait for some days for the paperwork to be done. Somewhere else in New York, there is a lady named Babe (Winona Ryder) who wants to make it big as a reporter. The news studio has been stalking Deeds and heard how he wanted to be a hero to a damsel in distress. So, Babe faked a basic damsel-in-distress situation, got Deeds’ attention, and he fell for her beauty. Elsewhere, the paperwork is being drawn up to get him to sell his shares, while Babe was able to get footage on Deeds, which was used to smear him.

How everything turned out for Deeds and Babe in the end is for you to see when you take a shot at this movie, even though I do not recommend you do.

50 First Dates (2004)

 50 First Dates (2004)

 

7/10

Starring

Adam Sandler

Drew Barrymore

Rob Schneider

Sean Astin

Dan Aykroyd

 

Directed by Peter Segal

 

Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore were the wonderful couple from The Wedding Singer (1998), and seeing them come together for this film again, I knew back then in Uni I had to see it. I recall owning the DVD for this movie and watching it over and over again. I never got tired of seeing Sandler’s character, Henry, try daily to make Lucy (Barrymore) fall in love with him every day. The complexity this would take for any man is removed from this movie, and it just coasts on the idea of a fun romantic comedy about a man hooked on a girl who cannot remember who he is the next day.

The movie’s use of humor had me laughing and smiling. We don’t get such humor any more these days, as the politically correct crew will come after anyone who makes fat jokes, criticizes long-term commitment, or makes drug use jokes. These were the golden times when jokes were just seen as jokes.

The movie explores the life of a lady, Lucy, who suffered brain damage. She has some sort of amnesia, which makes it impossible for her to retain short-term memory. Everything to Lucy stopped on the day of her accident, and she relives that same day every day. The movie has a sense of Groundhog Day (Bill Murray), with the complexity removed. This is a more easygoing and funnier version of Groundhog Day.

Here’s where Henry comes in. He sees Lucy at a diner and approaches her. They hit it off, had a beautiful breakfast together, and were supposed to meet again for another. He shows up the next day, and she does not know who he is and is upset that he’s coming onto her.

Henry is brought up to speed on what happened to Lucy, and instead of turning away, he likes the challenge and tries daily to get her attention but fails many times. Until he decides to stop trying to do it the easy way and comes up with more complex rules to get her attention. This works, and they start a funny relationship.

Things get difficult for them, and the movie takes us through this difficulty when you start to believe that, one day, at least once, she will wake up and remember who he is.

The movie was a box office success back in 2004, and it’s a keeper. I know in the future I will again go searching for where I can sit down and rewatch Sandler and Barrymore play love mates again. She, to me, has been the best on-screen couple pairing he has had so far in his career.

The Man from Toronto (2022)

The Man from Toronto (2022)

 2/10

 

Starring

Kevin Hart

Woody Harrelson

Kaley Cuoco

Jasmine Mathews

Lela Loren

 

Directed by Patrick Hughes

 

So, Sony made a bad movie and then sold the distribution rights to Netflix. Well, that’s good marketing for Sony and a bad purchase for Netflix. When is Netflix going to learn to either make good movies or get good movies? This movie was awful.

The chemistry between Kevin Hart and Woody Harrelson is non-existent. That’s not even the worst part of this movie—it’s the characters they portray. Kevin plays Teddy, a man who is so annoying and unrealistic that it goes over my head how the director let this happen. The idea of making Teddy a person who never shuts up, even in situations where he is about to die, is one of the worst movie mistakes I have seen. Who goes on a talking spree after surviving a plane crash, witnessing a man kill other people, and being sent on a mission to infiltrate a political killer’s home? Nobody I know would find these situations a good place to keep talking non-stop.

Then there’s Woody’s character, the Man from Toronto, who is supposed to be a ruthless killer with no emotions. Sadly, all through this movie, his reason for keeping Teddy alive started to fade fast, and still, this man failed to just put a bullet in Teddy’s head—even if for no reason but to make his mouth stop moving. Hart talked so much, I yelled at the screen, “Shut up!!”

The plot is about a local screw-up named Teddy, who decided to make up for years of screw-ups and take his wife on a beautiful getaway for her birthday. He mistakenly goes to the wrong house, where the occupants were expecting the Man from Toronto. When he saw that they wanted him to torture someone for fear of getting himself killed, he played along. He got the information they needed without lifting a finger to torture anyone. The place was set to be raided, and it was. Teddy was captured, and since his arrival, the occupants had sent his profile picture to their boss, saying they had made contact with the Man from Toronto. The FBI asks Teddy to continue to play along until they catch the man they’re after.

The Man from Toronto watches from the sidelines as all this takes place. He catches up with Teddy before he goes on the next mission, and the two work together to get the next piece of information before Toronto decides what he wants to do with Teddy.

In the end, you have a movie filled with promising stars who never mesh on screen and a script that never took off.

The Wedding Singer (1998)

The Wedding Singer (1998)

 

6/10

 

Starring

Adam Sandler

Drew Barrymore

Christine Taylor

 

Directed by Frank Coraci

 

Contains Spoilers

Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore made a good onscreen pairing in this movie. The Wedding Singer is about a man who had his heart ripped out in front of all his friends and later falls madly in love with another lady who he is supposed to help plan a wedding for.

The movie is fun, and I did enjoy seeing it again because I have fun memories of watching it when I was much younger. Seeing it now, even though the nostalgia had me, I do believe this movie is an okay comedy, but the script lacked the total conviction needed to push it over the top.

The romance that started between Robbie (Adam Sandler) and Julia (Drew Barrymore) came out of nowhere and from a situation that seems too impossible to occur. Julia had to get help from another man who is suffering from heartbreak to plan a wedding, which he himself could not have. That seemed very insensitive of Julia to ask, but the movie found a way to make it work. They did this by making Glenn (Julia’s fiancé) a jerk. The movie made up for the sappy romantic pairing by indirectly saying she was going to be unhappy anyway, so Robbie came to save the day.

The plot is about a wedding singer, Robbie, who gets left at the altar by his supposed-to-be wife. Robbie and his friends are the only ones in town who do wedding gigs. It was at a wedding gig, before his own catastrophe, that Robbie meets Julia (who waits tables at weddings). They start a friendship, promising to help each other with their own weddings. Julia was there at Robbie’s wedding as a waitress when he gets left. Robbie is in a spiral, losing his mind when he gets an invitation to Julia’s engagement party. He goes, and his friendship with Julia grows. When Glenn proposes to Julia, a wedding needs to be planned for the new couple in town. Julia asks Robbie to help with the planning, to which he agrees. Soon, the time the two spent together blossoms their friendship into love. To help along the way, Glenn turns out to be a womanizer, so Robbie trying to snatch his girl was, in this movie’s way, justified.

In the end, The Wedding Singer is one of those movies from Adam Sandler’s past that I will always fondly remember as one of his bests. Even though it doesn’t quite cut it now in comparison to the wonderful comedies of the 90s, it still holds up in my head as one of the cool movies I saw back then.

Happy Gilmore (1996)

Happy Gilmore (1996)

 3/10

 Starring

Adam Sandler

Christopher McDonald

Julie Bowen

Carl Weathers

 

Directed by Dennis Dugan

 

There is one part of my movie-watching life that never seems to add up: I have never seen Adam Sandler’s Happy Gilmore. I decided to watch it, and honestly, I wish I never did. I cannot deter you enough from seeing this movie. It’s horrible, boring, and not funny at all. The short-tempered Happy (Adam Sandler) is annoying, childish, and as the movie carried on, I kept wondering how he was the good guy. His character sucked so much that they had to write his antagonist to step out of line so much for him to be classified as the bad guy, instead of the man who does not want a joke to ruin the game he loves.

What made this movie the champ that launched Sandler’s path went over my head.

The movie follows the life of short-tempered Happy, who wanted to be a hockey player at all costs. Happy’s dream of being a hockey player took over his life to the point that nothing else mattered, except for his grandmother. His antics and his temper were so childish, it felt like watching a five-year-old.

There is an aspect of the movie-watching world that finds this funny, and I wish I could understand how. How do you enjoy the exaggerated, unrealistic behavior of a man-child?

Happy had one hell of a slap shot; he could hit a hockey puck and make it travel miles. He found out he could make some money swindling people, so he took his hitting game to a golf driving range to swindle more people. It was there that Happy met golf trainer and former pro golfer Chubbs (Carl Weathers), who wanted to train him to be a pro-golfer himself. But when Happy heard he could make money by entering a golf tournament, he went after the cash to save his grandmother’s home from foreclosure. From there, the movie took a nosedive from manageable to the point of annoyingly ridiculous. The game of golf had to tolerate this annoying character, and somehow, he became a superstar.

Then there’s the love interest, who decides to fall for Happy, a man who has no control of his temper. It wasn’t that the bar was lowered by that annoying antagonist—far from it; the antagonist wanted nothing to do with her romantically. It was just Happy whom she fell for.

This made it look more like she had a problem and only wanted to be with men who were too childish to take control of their own life.

There are better Adam Sandler movies out there, which I saw back when I was younger and some that I can even point to now, and this is not one of them.

Bulletproof (1996)

Bulletproof (1996)

 

4/10

Starring

Adam Sandler

Damon Wayans

James Caan

 

Directed by Ernest Dickerson

 

What Bulletproof lacks in humor, it makes up for with a lot of flimsy deaths. The number of henchmen and innocent people who die in this movie is just ridiculous. The movie’s name is Bulletproof, and well, the two leads seem to be. While people are dying everywhere, these two always seem to survive no matter what. And when both get shot, death is nowhere to be found. One took a straight shot to the head and survived, while the other got a graze.

The movie’s plot had as many holes as it could. The way a small-time crook could have access to a big-time boss like Colton goes to show the movie’s writer didn’t do their research well. I expected at least a middleman between these two. Secondly, if you suspect they’re after you, wouldn’t you consider that your phone could be bugged? Do note, his phone wasn’t bugged, but I wouldn’t have spoken freely to my girlfriend if I were on the run.

The plot is about an undercover cop, Jack/Keats (Damon Wayans), who becomes friends with Moses (Adam Sandler), a small-time crook with connections to a big-time drug dealer, Colton. Keats wonders how Moses got enough money to throw around, even though they work together and share the money 50/50. After a while, Moses brings Keats into his secret. He introduces Keats to Colton, and Keats uses this opportunity to bust their next operation, which leads to Moses shooting Keats, and Colton not getting caught.

Colton is now after Moses, who escapes from him and is later arrested for a separate charge months later. Moses decides to work with the police to bring down Colton for a lesser sentence, but he will only work with Keats, whose real name is Jack. Jack is not over Moses shooting him, and Moses wants Jack to let it go, since he’s not over Jack betraying him. Now, both must find their way to the D.A. before Colton and his goons catch up to them.

In the end, the movie was a dud both at the box office and critically. I watched it again because I wanted to recall how it was, but I now know I was better off not remembering how bad this movie was. Adam Sandler worked on a lot of movies in the ’90s, becoming a household name for comedy, but this buddy cop comedy did not live up to expectations, even with these two comedians.

The idea that anyone decided to do a second part of this movie, even though it was a straight-to-video release, is beyond me. What’s worse is that they got new people to play the leads.

Father of the Bride (2022)

Father of the Bride (2022)

 3/10

 

Starring

Andy Garcia

Gloria Estefan

Adria Arjona

Isabela Merced

 

Directed by Gaz Alazraki

 

 

If you think you'll be welcomed into a scene after the wedding, where the father of the bride narrates how we got to that point, forget it. This film does not have the father of the bride as the narrator like the previous ones. The film itself is very forgettable and leaves no mark.

Father of the Bride: The Latin Remix has its heart in the right place, but the execution is sad and boring. Except for the ending, when everything falls apart, and they have to have the wedding at a new venue, everything before then is just a drag. The story is pathetic, unrealistic, and the film felt like a bad joke. I can understand the challenge of trying to make lightning strike thrice. The first Father of the Bride duo movies in the 50s were great. The 90s duo remakes were even more superb, so trying to create a woke rendition for this new generation is a trying task they took on and failed, in my view.

Removing all the classic magic that came from the money talk as the Father of the Bride tried to be cheap killed the comedy for me. This new version of an overly wealthy man who saw money as no problem but was hell-bent on tradition was more annoying than funny.

The film also took away the traditional marital settings from both previous remakes and just left everything else that people of this new world we live in will love.

I think anyone who says this film is anywhere near as good as the previous two remakes is a big liar and should never be trusted.

I felt the film wasted such a great opportunity to redo the story from a Latin point of view. This whole war on wealth and using tired Latin tropes made the film more tiresome than it should have been.

The plot is about the Herrera family, whose daughter Sofi comes home to drop the surprise that she wants to get married in a month’s time to her man, Adan. Billy, her father (Andy Garcia), and Ingrid, her mother (Gloria Estefan), were shocked to the core, but Ingrid rolled with it, and Billy was not happy to be losing his daughter so quickly. From there, the film shifted from Billy losing his daughter to Billy and Adan’s father, Hernan, trying to take over the wedding.

The couple wanted a small wedding, while both fathers wanted a big one—except one wanted one bigger than the other.

The film is about this coming wedding and how Billy is trying to take charge of it, as his own marriage falls apart. We also see how much focus he has on Sofi, who went to college, and how he does not respect his other daughter, Cora, for not wanting to go to college.

In the end, the film is just meh and not worth my time. It’s one thing to see while waiting for something better. I felt its existence was insulting to the memory of Father of the Bride from the 90s.