Lenny
Feder
(Adam
Sandler)
is
a
wildly
successful
Hollywood
agent
married
to
a
fashion
designer
(Salma
Hayek)
and
father
to
three
bratty
kids
who
spend
all
their
time
on
tech
devices.
He
is
thrown
together
with
five
of
his
old
high
school
basketball
team
following
the
death
of
their
beloved
coach.
They
haven"t
seen
each
other
for
30
years.
Naturally
all
of
them
pretend
to
be
flourishing
except
for
Lenny
who
wants
to
downplay
his
wealth
and
the
nanny
they
have
to
look
after
the
kids.
His
buddies
are
Kevin
James
as
a
businessman,
his
wife
(Maria
Bello)
who
persists
in
breastfeeding
their
four-year-old
son;
Kurt
(Chris
Rock),
a
stay-at-home
dad
with
a
domineering
wife
(Maya
Rudolph)
and
his
mother-in-law
(Ebony
Jo-Ann)
whose
physical
ailments
are
ridiculed;
Rob
(Rob
Schneider),
a
health-conscious
New
Age
devotee
and
his
wife
(Joyce
Van
Patten)
who
is
much
older
than
he
is;
and
Marcus
(David
Spade),
a
witty
singleton.
This
Dennis
Dugan
directed
sporadically
funny
comedy
about
a
sad
group
of
middle-agers
who
have
built
their
lives
on
lies
and
fantasies
that
make
them
feel
forever
young
is
not
as
entertaining
as
you
would
expect
it
to
be
given
the
casting.
All
the
sex
jokes,
farts,
and
bikini-clad
young
women
cannot
punch
up
what
is
essentially
a
chaotic
tale
of
five
friends
who
don"t
want
to
ever
grow
up
and
face
the
unpleasant
truth
about
themselves.
Nobody
really
acts
here,
they"re
all
doing
cheap
stand-up
turns,
and
Dennis
Dugan"s
typically
lackadaisical
direction
imposes
no
control
on
their
excesses.
Sandler
just
mopes
through
the
picture,
but
he
ungenerously
gives
himself
the
part
of
the
one
really
successful
member
of
the
quintet,
and
also
the
one
who"s
wisest
about
how
they
all
ought
to
live.
The
four
other
“stars" are
one-note
figures,
and
played
that
way.
The
women
are
even
more
sketchily
drawn,
reaching
a
low
point
in
a
scene
at
that
unnecessary
water
park
where
they
descend
to
“Sex
and
the
City"
level.
And
the
youngsters
are
just
convenient
foils.
But
certainly
the
most
embarrassing
turns—despite
the
awful
ones
handed
to
Spade,
Schneider,
Bello,
Hayak
and
Van
Patten—go
to
prune-faced
Quinn
and
particularly
Steve
Buscemi,
whose
cameo
as
one
of
his
pals
is
the
movie"s
absolute
nadir.
Avoid
this
one
unless
you
have
absolutely
nothing
else
to
do!
Rating:
2
out
of
5*
Starring:
Adam
Sandler,
Kevin
James,
Chris
Rock,
David
Spade,
Rob
Schneider,
Salma
Hayek,
Maria
Bello,
Maya
Rudolph,
Joyce
Van
Patten
and
Steve
Buscemi