8 Crazy Nights
Davey Stone (voiced by Adam Sandler) is a 33 year-old bully. Ever since losing his parents 20 years ago, Davey has been a source of constant frustration for the town of Dukesberry, ruining the holidays, and just being an all around unlikable fellow. Eventually Davey is arrested and sentenced to referee a youth basketball league, and it’s there that he meets the town pushover, a 70-year old man named Whitey Duvall (Sandler). Davey isn’t in the right frame of mind to enjoy the town’s Hanukkah and Christmas celebration, but Whitey’s love for the citizens of Dukesberry, along with his ability to make Davey confront his past, could lead to Davey finally breaking free of his depression, and opening his heart to enjoy the holidays.
I’ve always tried to support Adam Sander, mostly because I really am fond of his films. But my love for the comedian has always stopped at his recording career, which has filled the shelves with many CDs of unfunny comedy skits, and even worse songs (both of which inspired this film). On the screen, Sandler generates somewhat composed, detailed insanity, whereas on tape, his id just runs wild, to an obnoxious extreme. The animated “8 Crazy Nights” brings that laugh-free work to the theaters, in what is easily Sandler’s worst film. While it’s great to finally see a Hanukkah film be made, as that holiday just isn’t covered enough by Hollywood, did it have to be this overflowing cornucopia of gross-out situations and perilously offensive gags? Sadly, none of the warm, sometimes corrosive charm Sandler brings to his live-action offerings is present here.
What we do have to contend with are defecating deer, some jock-strap consumption, port-a-potty tipping, belching and other assorted bodily functions, three-breasted women, and, incredibly enough, seizure jokes. I seemed to have lost the memo that details a comedy clearance on that deadly serious affliction. This is the class of material that makes up Sandler’s records (and, admittedly, occasionally his movies), and it should’ve stayed there.
“8 Crazy Nights” also plays like a watered down version of the “South Park” movie. Also built around a series of lewd, Broadway-style musical numbers, “Nights” doesn’t quite have the level of writing “South Park” had, nor the R-rating or satiric aim to fully explore the depths of obscenity. While it may not be entirely funny, “8 Crazy Nights” is, at the very least, bright and colorful, with the songs adding energy to its dilapidated engine. They’re not hilarious songs, but they keep the focus off the labored story, and that’s all right with me.
Adam Sandler can be easily forgiven for this miscarriage, if only on the strength of his career-bending work in the recent “Punch-Drunk Love.” Here’s to hoping we never have to spend a 9th crazy night with Whitey, Davey, and the whole crappy gang.
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