Grown Ups is a 2010 American comedy film directed by Dennis Dugan, written by Adam Sandler and Fred Wolf, produced by Sandler and Jack Giarraputo, and starring Sandler, Kevin James, Chris Rock, David Spade, and Rob Schneider. The film's plot tells the story of five lifelong friends who won their junior high school basketball championship in 1978. They reunite three decades later for a 4th of July weekend after learning about the sudden death of their former coach.
Produced by Sandler's Happy Madison Productions in association with Relativity Media, Grown Ups was released in the United States on June 25, 2010, by Columbia Pictures.[2] Despite receiving negative reviews from critics, it grossed $272.2 million and led to a sequel, Grown Ups 2, in 2013.
Plot
In 1978, childhood friends Lenny Feder, Eric Lamonsoff, Kurt McKenzie, Marcus Higgins, and Rob Hilliard win their junior high basketball championship. They celebrate at a lake house with their coach Robert "Buzzer" Ferdinando.
Thirty years later, in 2008, Lenny is a wealthy and successful Hollywood talent agent, married to fashion designer Roxanne, and has three children: Greg, Keith, and Becky. Eric claims to co-own a lawn furniture company and has two children: Donna and Bean; his wife Sally still breastfeeds Bean. Kurt is a stay-at-home father and has two children: Andre and Charlotte; his wife, Deanne, is pregnant with their third child, and her mother Ronzoni lives with them. Marcus is a slacker and lothario. Rob is married to his much older fourth wife, Gloria.
When Buzzer dies, the five friends reunite for his funeral in their hometown with their families. Lenny rents a lake house in the same town for everyone to stay over Fourth of July weekend, though his family is leaving early to attend Roxanne's fashion show in Milan. He pushes his boys to play outside and runs into his childhood opponent Dickie, who claims Lenny's foot was out of bounds when he made the winning shot and has been obsessed with getting a rematch to rectify the perceived 'mistake'.
As the friends spread Buzzer's ashes, Rob breaks down over his failed marriages and reveals that he has invited his estranged daughters Jasmine, Amber, and Bridget to visit. The men play "arrow roulette", shooting an arrow straight into the air, and Rob wins by not running for cover, but the arrow impales his left foot, causing him to 'snap' at Gloria from the pain, who rushed to his aid with unconventional methods.
The next day, Lenny is thrilled to find the kids playing with cup-and-string telephones. Realizing the positive impact the weekend is having on their children, Roxanne tells Lenny to cancel their Milan trip and stay at the lake instead.
Everyone visits Water Wizz where Marcus flirts with Jasmine and Amber after buying them skimpy bikinis, and Eric teaches Bean to drink cow's milk. The families cause chaos throughout the park: the wives attract a bodybuilder, then jeer at his high-pitched Canadianaccent; Rob assaults a slide attendant when he insults Bridget, and Eric ignores Donna's warning about a chemical in the pool that turns urine blue. At the zipline attraction, Lenny's group meets up with Dickie, accompanied by his son, his former teammates, and his friend Wiley, who is then severely injured after crashing into a shed while sliding down the zipline using his feet.
The next day, Rob attacks Marcus, mistakenly believing that he slept with Jasmine, and Marcus admits to feeling insecure compared to his happily married friends. Everyone comes clean about the state of their lives: Roxanne confronts Lenny for canceling their flight to Milan before they left home, and he explains he wanted their family to have a normal vacation and to rein in his children's disrespectful attitudes; Deanne confronts Kurt for spending time with the Feders' nanny Rita, but Kurt retaliates by pointing out how she under-appreciates him; Eric reveals that he was laid off from his job, and was showing off the whole time so the others wouldn't humiliate him; Rob admits what everybody already knows – that he wears a toupee. Gloria helps everyone reconcile, and Lenny and Kurt offer to help Eric start a new business.
On their last day at the lake house, Lenny and his friends agree to a rematch against Dickie, Robideaux, Muzby, Tardio, and Malcolm. The game culminates in Lenny and Greg facing Dickie and his son, but Lenny misses the game-deciding shot. As the families watch the Fourth of July fireworks, Lenny tells Roxanne that he let Dickie's family win to get him off his case and felt that his own family needed to know what losing feels like. A drunken Marcus plays another game of arrow roulette, and the crowd flees in panic. Trapped in a full-body cast, Wiley is struck in the foot by the arrow as he quotes that they beat them again before fainting.
Cast
Adam Sandler as Lenny Feder, a Hollywood talent agent.
Michael Cavaleri as Young Lenny Feder
Kevin James as Eric Lamonsoff, a friend of Lenny and former worker at Branchville Lawn Furniture.
Andrew Bayard as Young Eric Lamonsoff
Chris Rock as Kurt McKenzie, a friend of Lenny who is a stay-at-home dad.
Rob Schneider as Rob Hilliard, a hippie friend of Lenny who has been through three marriages with women nicknamed "The Eater", "The Cheater", and "The Beater" and also wears a toupee that extends his hairstyle.
Joshua Matz as Young Rob Hilliard
Salma Hayek[a] as Roxanne Chase-Feder, a fashion designer and the wife of Lenny.
Tim Meadows as Malcolm, one of Dickie's friends and former teammates who is a rival of Kurt. Meadows wore a bald cap for his role.
Christopher Borger as Young Malcolm
Madison Riley as Jasmine Hilliard, daughter of Rob from his first marriage.
Jamie Chung as Amber Hilliard, daughter of Rob from his second marriage and the half-sister of Jasmine.
Ashley Loren as Bridget Hilliard, daughter of Rob from his third marriage, and the half-sister of Jasmine and Amber.
Jake Goldberg as Greg Feder, the 13-year-old older son of Lenny and Roxanne.
Cameron Boyce as Keithie Feder, the 11-year-old younger son of Lenny and Roxanne and brother of Greg.
Alexys Nycole Sanchez as Becky Feder, the 5-year-old daughter of Lenny and Roxanne and younger sister of Greg and Keithie.
Ada-Nicole Sanger as Donna Lamonsoff, the 11-year-old daughter of Eric and Sally.
Frank Gingerich and Morgan Gingerich as Bean Lamonsoff, the 4-year-old son of Eric and Sally and younger brother of Donna who was originally breastfed his milk.
Nadji Jeter as Andre McKenzie, the 13-year-old son of Kurt and Deanne.
China Anne McClain as Charlotte McKenzie, the 11-year-old daughter of Kurt and Deanne and the sister of Andre.
Blake Clark as Robert "Buzzer" Ferdinando, the old basketball coach of Lenny, Eric, Kurt, Marcus, and Rob who dies years later.
Tim Herlihy as an unnamed pastor who presides over Buzzer's funeral.
Norm Macdonald as Geezer, a fisherman. Most of his scenes in the film, where he interacts with Lenny and one scene where he takes a liking to Bridget, were deleted.
Dan Patrick as Norby, a water park employee who is pushed down a water slide by Rob for hitting on Jasmine and Amber and insulting Bridget.
Jonathan Loughran as Robideaux, a cross-eyed man who is one of Dickie's friends and former teammates.
Connor Panzner as Young Robideaux
Kevin Grady as Muzby, one of Dickie's friends and former teammates.
Jeremy Waver as Young Muzby
Richie Minervini as Tardio, one of Dickie's friends and former teammates.
Daniel Cohen as Young Tardio
Jackie Titone Sandler as Jackie Tardio, the wife of Tardio.
Sadie Sandler as Sadie Tardio, the daughter of Tardio.
Sunny Sandler as Sunny Tardio, the daughter of Tardio
Filming commenced in Essex County, Massachusetts, in August 2009.[3]Chebacco Lake was used to portray the fictional Amoskeag Lake where the Earnshaw family's lake house setting was.[4]Woodman's of Essex was used for the restaurant "Woodman's Eat in the Rough.[5]Water Wizz was used as the filming location for the water park scene.[6][7]
Release
Box office
Grown Ups grossed $162 million in the United States and $110.2 million in other territories for a worldwide gross of $272.2 million against a production budget of $75 million.[1]Grown Ups surpassed Click to become Sandler's highest-grossing film worldwide.[8] Happy with the gross, Adam Sandler showed his appreciation by buying brand-new Maseratisports cars for his four co-stars.[9]
Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, Grown Ups has an approval percentage of 10% based on 172 reviews and a rating of 3.50 out of 10. The critics consensus reads: "Grown Ups' cast of comedy vets is amiable, but they're let down by flat direction and the scattershot, lowbrow humor of a stunted script."[10] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 30 out of 100 based on 32 critic reviews, meaning "generally unfavorable".[11] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.[12]
Connie Ogle of the Miami Herald referred to it as "the perfect poster child for this maddening summer of movie mediocrity."[13] Rick Groen of The Globe and Mail criticized what he saw as blatant commercialism, saying the cast "lob[bed] gags they surely disdain at an audience they probably despise while reserving their own laughter for that off-camera dash all the way to the bank." Richard Roeper went as far as to say that it was "a blight upon the bright canvas of American cinema", and that he hated it.[14] Tom Long of the Detroit News called it "trite comedy" and "total garbage."[15] On the other end of the spectrum, Lisa Kennedy of the Denver Post called it "crude and decent-hearted" and "easy, breezy, predictable."[16]
The film won at the 2011 MTV Movie Awards for the "Best Line from a Movie" category, which it won for the line "I want to get chocolate wasted!", delivered by Becky, played by Alexys Nycole Sanchez.[17][citation needed]
^Waterhouse, Gail (July 4, 2013). "Water Wizz in Wareham rides Hollywood wave". The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved July 3, 2014. Not many family-run businesses can say they've been featured in a Hollywood film, but Water Wizz has been in two major motion pictures in four years. The first was Grown Ups, a 2010 movie produced by Adam Sandler.
