Aside from riskier attempts to change his image such as Punch-Drunk Love and Funny People, Adam Sandler’s cinematic output generally tends to inspire ardent fandom or total loathing; there’s rarely much in the way of the “meh” factor. And both of the extremes were on display with last year’s Grown Ups – which scored a lowly 10% on Rotten Tomatoes, was eviscerated by most critics and yet still managed to make more than $270 million worldwide. Which might go some way to explain why there’s a sequel now in the early planning stages.
The plot of the original, such as it was, featured a group of friends from way back reconnecting at the funeral of their old basketball coach and gathering at the lake house where they celebrated their biggest victory.
It was essentially an excuse for Sandler to gather some of his comedy pals, including Kevin James, Chris Rock, David Spade and Rob Schneider and throw as many jokes at the screen as possible to see what stuck. Opinions varied from the solidly negative to the “it was a fun, no-brain way to pass the time”.
So if you fall into the latter camp, you’ll likely be happy. But don’t go getting too excited just yet: as of right now, the only person officially involved is Fred Wolf, who co-wrote the first film with Sandler. No-one else, not even the man himself (who has never done a sequel before) is even talking about returning. But given how much fun the cast apparently had shooting the thing, a free working holiday is likely an enticing prospect. Wonder if they’ll go the Couples Retreat route and look to make it somewhere exotic this time?