AV Club - "Grown Ups 2 marks Sandler’s eighth collaboration with director/yes-man Dennis Dugan, a filmmaker whose style is distinguished by an inability to frame gags and a fondness for Pottery Barn interiors lit with soap-opera flatness. Like the other recent Dugan/Sandler movies—Jack And Jill,Just Go With It—Grown Ups 2 is surreally shoddy: Continuity and technical errors are the norm; the movie’s opening credits roll over mismatched, low-resolution stock footage. Bad prosthetics and make-up abound; there are countless paste-on beards and wrinkly bald caps, and two characters have fake noses that are the wrong skin tone. The crappiness of the filmmaking is so pervasive and compulsive that viewers may suspect that it constitutes some kind of perverse artistic statement—an intentional crass ineptness that’s very much in line with Sandler’s anti-snob worldview."

Is anyone going to see this shit?

I am, though I won't pay for it.

I think this will be just as leggy as the first one. I really laughed a lot. No real huge hilarious scenes like in the Heat or even the one or two in Hangover III, but consistently funny gags throughout. I liked it a lot more than the first one actually, and probably my favorite Sandler film since The Longest Yard. It was nice to see a lot of great character actors with smaller roles like Lovitz, Cheri Oterri, Colin Quinn, and Swarsdon and Shaq, who easily steal the movie. It's also great to see expanded roles for Buscemi (whose appearance in Sandler films post Boardwalk empire are even better) and meadows. With that said, it's ridiculously unrealistic, even more so than The Heat or even Iron Man 3, but it's just funny. The plot itself is nonexistent (I think it all happens over the course of a day, which would be the most absurd day ever) The crowd really seemed to love it. I hadn't heard applause in a while, so I was a little shocked. It's not high art, but I smiled a lot. The first family film for Sandler in a while that found a good balance.

B+/A-

That's sad.

I laughed at the first one. And I would probably laugh at this one. It's harmless family/slapstick comedy.

There are far worse movies.

I wouldn't say the first was very good. Or even good. But I'd give it a C+-grade. It did amuse me and I did chuckle several times. The sequel made me want to beat the living shit out of everyone involved.

I doubt you could beat up Kevin James. Or Chris Rock.

That's sad. It's much more consistent than the first, and happily throws away the corny "Solve every problem" and sappy ending the first film and most Sandler films have had the last 10 years. It's happy, but I'll take a bunch of 40 year olds smacking the shit out of 20 year olds and not have to suffer the consequences over a basketball game any day. I'm curious on your thoughts about the main group's past films?

At least half of them isn't any good, but 98% of them are better than this.

I'm actually pretty sure I could.

Unless he actually picked up a lot while training Here Comes the Boom, I'm pretty sure I could beat him up. Knock out? I dunno, but certainly win a fight.

Kevin James was in the high school wrestling team so I doubt that any of you can take him down. In fact, he did wrestle against Mick Foley in high school

I wouldn't win a wrestling match against him, but there are other ways.

Guns weapons

GROWN UPS 2

I almost thought at one point in the film that this would be one of those really terrible comedies that I've sat through. Now, it certainly is extremely preposterous at points. Almost like parts of it were a three stooges slapstick stuff. Transitioning to the frat vs adults ridiculous fight at the end of the film. This was verging on D territory. Some of those jokes were just terrible. The whole Whaaaaat joke they used maybe 4-5 times was stupid. That whole family was stupid. This was an SNL alum film. Poor Cheri Oteri. She can't find nothing better to do. There were, however, some good funny moments peppered throughout the film that I liked. I don't recall a single bit of it just a day later but it was enough to elevate the film from dreadful to not terrible level for me.

Grade - C

...other martial arts..

I'd also rather be beaten up by Kevin James than having to watch this film again. Once a deer pisses on two separate characters within the first four minutes of the movie, I knew it'd be really realyl bad. But somehow, it got absurdely worse after that. Kevin James burpsnarts at least four times in the film (burps, sneezes and farts simultaneously). David Spade wants to imitate and shits himself. Great.

Krav Maga might do the trick.

Quick question... I know a few years back Kevin James lost a lot of weight. When the hell did he gain it all back!? He looks bigger than ever.

idk why these chunky stars don't just hire personal trainers.

I don't think Kevin James is funny partly because of his weight. He can be funny regardless. Now, idk how that would translate to a Melissa McCarthy though. She'd be a whole different person without all that weight.

What's odd is Melissa use to be skinny when she was on Gilmore Girls. My mom was watching a rerun she pointed her out. That's shocking.

Kevin James is doing good though, unlike most Fat stars. And James will always look humungous compared to Spade, Rock, Taylor Lautner, Maria Bello, and Salma Hayek. None of them way more than 140 lbs.

I meant more... he was on the All Star game last night. HE'S HUGE.

Saw it for free, which might be why I didn't hate it as much as I thought I would.

This might be the laziest screenplay to date for the Sandler films and that's saying something. What sets it apart from all the others (even Jack & Jill) is that there is no actual story. There are no character arcs, and the one's they try to attempt wouldn't just fade away in a day (Sandler's character in a day goes from being vehemently against having another kid to eagerly anticipating it's arrival). It's just a bunch of sketches strung together by the very loose thread of it being the last day of summer.

Deer
Sandler drives a bus
The women get ogled by Jon Lovitz (remember when he was actually somewhat talented?)
K-Mart
Dance recital
Quarry jump
Sandler breaks his son's leg (this has no reason to be in the film)
Tire chase
James and Bello at the car wash
80's party
Party fight
End

So if it's lazier than Jack & Jill, why isn't it worse? Well, I'll actually admit that I chuckled quite a bit. A lot of that has to do that Rob Schneider is nowhere to be found. There also doesn't seem to be a malicious bone anywhere in the film's body (aside from the overall idea in which this is just another paid vacation for Sandler and his friends and we're paying to watch it and possibly contribute to another). Can I remember any of the jokes that I found funny? Not really. All of the humor is pretty much disposable, but I remember laughing. That's gotta be worth something, right?



(C)

Well... maybe I was in the right mood while watching this but I enjoyed it much more than the first one.