Yeah, more like "Jack or Jill"... or "Jack or Jackie"... Well, eitherway, I'm trying to come up with some kind of stretch for a "Glen or Glenda" reference joke. I think the real title should be "Adam Sandler or Comedy", because there seems… More
Yeah, more like "Jack or Jill"... or "Jack or Jackie"... Well, eitherway, I'm trying to come up with some kind of stretch for a "Glen or Glenda" reference joke. I think the real title should be "Adam Sandler or Comedy", because there seems to be a difference, considering that he's not funny anymore. No, Adam Sandler still has plenty of funniness in him; I don't know were, but I'm pretty sure it's somewhere in these long streams of punchlineless jokes. Hey, he must be doing something right, because I don't know where my movie is, and all the while, his production team popped out four in 2011, alone. Granted, none of them were good, and this film, the grand finale of it all, is no exception, and just like most of the other Happy Madison messes of 2011, this film is, well, actually, not really terrible, either. Now, don't get me wrong, it's not good either, being just as messy, if not messier than ever, and yet it goes saved by nothing, and by that, I mean that this film is just too bland to even be bad, which isn't to say that it doesn't have the occasional undeniable bright spot to keep it as much on its feet as it can.
The soundtrack is as underused in this HM production as ever, but when it does kick on, it has that usual sharp Happy Madison taste, that horrible song at a montage sequence towards the end notwithstanding. Sure, this soundtrack may still run to too many overly familiar classic hits, and doesn't even come back with the best haul it could have had, but it still entertains for the brief moments it's on. Still, what wakes you up the most is the occasional effective joke, and I know that sounds as though I'm really reaching to pull out just a few chuckle-worthies, but really, in all honesty, when this film hits, it hits pretty darn hard. Sure, like other HM productions, those effective jokes are far and few between, with this film having particularly weak fall-flats in the middle of it all, but when the film really does hit with an effective joke, on average, those jokes are just as, if not better than some of the best jokes in recent Happy Madison productions. True, that's barely saying anything, but it remains to be said that this film will ever so occasionally hit unexpectedly hard and wake you up, which is good, because when there are no relatively good jokes, this film is a snoozefest. No, it's not that bad, but really, outside of the aforementioned, this film has absolutely nothing going for it, and sure, there's so little going for it, that it doesn't even have enough insufferable bad to be bad, as a whole, yet there's no real oomph or memorable quality to the film, outside of those, like, four or five actually good jokes. It's just so very bland as a film, and while it stands to be worse, it is as mediocre as they come, which isn't to say that it doesn't have points that aren't simply mediocre, but full-on terrible.
Not counting the hilarious interviews with twins that actually opened (And also went on to close) it all, the film opens pretty blasted poorly, with a loosely-edited, highly overlong development segment that not only goes plagued by an unrelenting amount of fall-flat jokes, but monotonous nothingness set to a dry atmosphere, making the early parts of the film not only overlong, but just plain boring. After that, the film picks up, though not much at all, continuing to have slow spots, as well as fall-flat punchlineless jokes, while incorporating more offensive gross-out jokes, as well as other types of obnoxious fall-flats, some of which are just plain agonizingly offensive, from celebrities making cameos to humiliate themselves (Except that one bit where Shaquille O'Neal donned a wig and, in a Terry Crews gruff voice, chewed on still-packaged ham for a commercial; that was probably the funniest bit in the whole film) to Jill loudly making, what she calls, "chocolate squirties" in the bathroom. Whether it be slapstick, mugging or Adam Sandler, as the Jill character, simply yelling and Jewing out beyond belief, and yes, I know, that was ridiculously racist to say, but it's not me looking too far into Sandler's character; there are definately fairly palpable anti-semitic and even sexist undertones all throughout the film. I doubt Sandler every expected his taking advantage of his Judaism for extremely over-the-top Jew jokes - or Jewokes, for the racists out there - to get this out of hand, but as it stands, this film is absurdly offensive, which isn't to say that's the only reason why the Jill character is so unlikable, because the character is so inept, so crude, so obnoxious and even pretty cruel to most everyone that she's not simply an uncompelling lead, but a despicable one. As for Jack, I think that we can all agree that, sister or not, this cow has to get out of his hair, but the way he treats his sister and, well, everyone else is so Adam Sandler, being so cocky to the point of being unbelievable and, for that matter, unlikable as someone who should be the avatar for the audience. Needless to say, Jack and Jill should go up a hill and get thrown off, because they're so unlikable, and I would almost say intentionally so, were it not for the fact that, towards the end, the film tries to redeem them, and don't get me wrong, the broad concept behind Sandler's message is reasonably noble, but when it comes down to the heart of it all, it doesn't add up, and it doesn't help that he's already, in performance and on paper, established his leads as utterly unlikable. This film is one, big, disjointed, inconsistent and even bloated (Seriously, by the scene early in the film, in which Johnny Depp pops up with a Justin Beiber t-shirt, you're already begging them to stop it with the cameos by self-embarassing celebrities, when really, they're just getting started) mess of an obnoxious film, and sure, the film doesn't have the guts to go ahead, land the final blow and just destroy itself, yet there's so much offensiveness, nothingness and thorough underwhelmingness that, by the end, it's near-impossible to not walk away feeling some level of defeat.
In conclusion, the film has simply too little going on to even be bad, which isn't to say that a decent soundtrack and the occasional good, if not, well, admittedly pretty sharp joke don't help in keeping the film from collapsing, yet the product never really stands too firmly on its feet, taking blows from a few low spots in monotonous, slow nothingness, as well many spots in obnoxious, fall-flat humor, and it's all built around two unlikable and, at times, inconsistently handled leads, ultimately leaving "Jack and Jill" to stand as yet another underwhelming Happy Madison "effort" that, for me, doesn't really turn-off, but doesn't really deliver in countless regards.
2/5 - Mediocre
