Grown Ups (2010) * *

Directed by: Dennis Dugan
Starring: Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, David Spade, Kevin James, Rob Schneider

Grown Ups made me laugh or wince a few times, but otherwise it's a rather low energy comedy in which there were too few laughs to go around.     The five actors mentioned above play the grown ups, but throw in seasoned actors like Salma Hayek, Maria Bello, Colin Quinn, and Steve Buscemi and you're really stretching your resources.    There just isn't enough here to prevent many of the actors from standing around waiting for his turn for a one-liner.

The five leads are kids who win a little league basketball championship in 1978 and reunite 30 some years later when they all attend their beloved head coach's funeral.  They rent the lakehouse where they hung around as kids and bring their families to take part.   Hayek is married to Adam Sandler and is counting down the minutes until they can split for Milan and a fashion show.   James and his wife Bello drive a flashy Caddy and their four year old son still breast feeds. This provides a funny line in which James says his son is "48 months old".

Spade is single and loving it.   Rock is a henpecked house husband with a pregnant working wife, while Schneider is married to a woman old enough to be at least his mother.   There are many jokes about Schneider's wife's age.     Some hit, some miss, much like many of the jokes in the film.

There isn't much tension between the families despite what you would expect and maybe even hope for.  Conflict arises in the form of Colin Quinn, who played on the losing team in that championship game and insists Sandler's foot was out of bounds when he hit the winning shot.    Anyone who is surprised that a rematch between the teams takes place has not seen many movies before.   When the game does occur, there really isn't much to it.    Quinn's crew aren't established as real villains enough to root for their demise, while Sandler's crew is pleasant but not heroic.

There are one-liners, cut ups, farts, belches, and a couple of scenes of squirting breast milk, plus two hot girls who just couldn't possibly be Schneider's daughters, could they?    However, Grown Ups doesn't work up much enthusiasm from me.   The actors are definitely having a good time hanging around and shooting the breeze, but Grown Ups doesn't take off like a strong comedy should.