Eight Crazy Nights

This is a wonderful film that should proudly be seated next to Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas.

Congrats to Sandler and his crew for bringing us an original (somewhat twisted) Holiday treat .... It's fresh to see a movie like this that breaks away from the (somewhat droll) regular Christmas Formula.

Sure, it may not exactly be great 'family' entertainment.... but it wont really harm any too many young fragile minds either. While there is a small amount of crude humor in this film... it doesnt cross the line and spoil any 'mythologies' of Christmas .... so young minds will not be tainted and lose their belief in Jolly Old Nick!

I've read lots of critisism about this film... and I was holding back until I saw it before I hit back at them. The fact is that there isnt much ground to criticize. It's Adam Sandler at his peak. It's a new art form for him and in the past year he has really spread his wings and taken off.

With this and Punch-Drunk Love under his belt, it's easy to say that it's been a good year for Sandler. If you want something different, original, colourful and fun to watch this Chrissy, then watch this little gem. Ignore all of the backlash and make up your own mind.

I rate this 8 out of 10.

It's about time there was a Hanukkah movie. And I'm glad it was this one. I love musicals, especially funny ones. Plus, the Fiddler on the Roof-esque number toward the end of this movie was a scream.

It starts out with Davey Stone causing trouble and wreaking havoc on the town and all the nice Christmas and Hanukkah decorations. He's kind of a Grinch in the beginning. We find out why later, and I'm not going to spoil it for those who haven't seen it. But you can sort of understand why he'd be bitter and mean, even if he does go a bit overboard. Stealing a snowmobile and crashing through the giant Menorah ice sculpture was overkill. But he gets the point across - he's bitter and hates the holidays.

But Davey finally gets picked up and has his day in court. The judge makes him do community service helping Whitey referee children's basketball. At first he acts like a big jerk in front of everyone, and they throw things. But then he starts to warm up to this kid, who just happens to be the son of the girl Davey was in love with when he was twelve. It's all very cosmic, in a Three Stooges sort of way.

Whitey and Elinore are some of the funniest cartoon characters I've seen in a long time. Also, Jon Lovitz's character was good, even if he's only in the movie for a few minutes at the end. And I quote: "When I was a kid, I always dreamed of two things. Learning how to make a hook shot with my left hand,

and becoming a multimillionaire. Well, I guess we all know which one of those dreams came true." Then he puts his left hand on the podium, and it's a hook. Yeah, I guess that left-handed hook shot is out of the question now, huh?

This is a movie worth seeing. I've been watching it for the past week or so, and it's not anywhere near Hanukkah. Just a funny, funny movie.

"Eight Crazy Nights", or "Adam Sandler's Eight Crazy Nights", a crude animated film, shows comedian Adam Sandler in cartoon form. I'm no die-hard fan of his, but I think he can be funny, so I recently decided to check out this film, despite a lot of negative reviews. Well, guess what? Now I agree with those negative reviews. I'm sure this film had potential to be a decent comedy (like some of Sandler's live action films), and a good, touching holiday adventure as well, but it didn't really turn out to be either of these things, unfortunately.

Davey Stone lives in the town of Dukesberry, New England. He is now in his early thirties, and is a nasty alcoholic with a bad reputation. Twenty years ago, he was basically the opposite, but something went horribly wrong! Now that he's so uncouth, he is known to cause trouble, and one December night, the first night of Hanukkah, he is arrested for leaving a restaurant without paying. He is sentenced to community service as an assistant referee for a youth basketball league, working for the head referee, Whitey Duvall. Since that was not Davey's first offence, he will be sentenced to ten years in prison if he breaks the law again! As the days of Hanukkah go by, and Christmas draws near, the good-natured Whitey tries to change Davey's ways, but is there any hope?!

Adam Sandler provides the voice for Davey, who looks just like him, as well as the voices for Whitey and his sister, Eleanore. Personally, I found Whitey's voice maybe not quite irritating, but close, and I think I found Eleanore's voice fairly irritating. Those voices, however, certainly didn't ruin the entire experience for me. The main problem with "Eight Crazy Nights" is that as a comedy, it's pretty lame. I do not recall ever laughing, and recall smiling only a couple times, one of them being when Davey tells his car not to stay up too late. Whitey having seizures - not funny! Whitey covered in fecal matter - not funny! Reindeer licking ice and feces off of him - not funny! People laughing so hard that they shoot out snot while reindeer outside laugh so hard at the same joke that they shoot out feces - not funny! Some of these gags put a puzzled look on my face, or grossed me out a bit! The film is somewhat touching at times, especially around the end, and if it weren't for that, I think I would give it a lower rating than the already low 4.

I have no problem with the premise or animation here. Like I said, the main problem with this film is the lame humour. I'm certainly NOT irked by all crude, tasteless humour. Since this is a case where that kind of humour is used in animation, I feel I should mention that "South Park" has made me laugh hard numerous times! However, when crude humour is not funny, it can be frighteningly bad (like when those hacks, Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer do it), and that is sometimes the case in "Eight Crazy Nights", or if not, it sometimes comes very close! Knowing that Jon Lovitz had a voice-over role in this film, I am reminded of Jay Sherman, his character in the short-lived cartoon series, "The Critic" (a good show, in my opinion), and the character's catchphrase, "It stinks." I really think that catchphrase, though simple, is a good one to use to describe this movie. Without a doubt, "Eight Crazy Nights" marked a low point in Sandler's career.

When it comes to comedies, Adam Sandler movies are in a niche of their very own. They're divisive critically, they tend to resort to the lowest common denominator, yet by the end of it they manage to get plenty of people to tune in, and they do respectably at the box office. Adam Sandler is no dummy, he managed to make bank with a lot of films, demonstrated his chops as a dramatic actor and thanks to his films not being put on a pedestal by a general public, he has managed to maintain a humble attitude that persists to this day.

Everyone has their favorite Adam Sandler film, whether it be those considered nostalgic or better with its tropes, and Eight Crazy Nights is one of my personal favorites. Yes it's absolutely crass, and for it to take place in a holiday film is bound to really irk people, but that just helps make it stand out from others. Whether you like it or not, you can't say Eight Crazy Nights didn't do something, well, relatively different.

The animation is an objective positive, not just because of it in a vacuum, but because it was made out of passion, commitment, essentially given those laid off from major 2D studios another shot to do what they do best.

As for the humor, as a lot of people complain about adult cartoons being ugly and having equally ugly humor, Eight Crazy Nights proves that foul humor is possible no matter how good the art, animation, etcetera.

Eight Crazy Nights has some benefit of coming out when Adam Sandler movies were at a respectable peak, before the schtick started to get old for a lot of people, it has a crazy way of sticking with you whether it be for better or worse. If you want a break from the more cutesy holiday flicks and you're not picky, see what Eight Crazy Nights can do for you.

Okay a viewer can watch this and see it in one of two lights, not both. Either a person can watch this and say, 'that was the cruelest and most disturbing thing I've ever seen' or the other 'That was kind of weird but portrayed a message.' Okay I know what you are saying, a Sandler film with a point, NO WAY! But no, this movie does have a message of Christmas (or Hanukkah) and works out quite plainly if you pay attention.

The story goes like this. It's the holidays and Davey (Voiced by Adam Sandler) is a mean-spirited, spiteful young man with a criminal record. His past was perfect until his parents died when he was 13. Now he's back in court and about to be sentenced to jail when a kind-hearted, old man named Whitey (also voiced by Sandler) who offers to the judge to have Davey perform community service as an assistant referee for youth basketball.

Davey thinks he's going to get off easy until Whitey begins to try and reform the young man. Davey does some horrible, and almost unbelievable things to him but Whitey is ever kind and optimistic and even offers Davey a home once his burns down. Slowly Davey begins to change from a troubled young man to a kinder person. But all the while, memories form his troubled past continue to plague him and cause him to be angry. The whole time, the movie keeps you guessing if he'll overcome the anger that built inside of him with the help of Whitey or be engulfed in it.

The whole film I absolutely hated Sandler's character. He was more than angry, he was deranged and just plain mean to the old man who tries to help him and couldn't help but think 'man this guys horrible.' But after a second viewing I realized the film was trying to do something. The film echoes a cry for being kind and how good triumphs over evil, in the case of the film Whitey overtaking Davey's anger with kindness and changing him. By the end of the movie I had gotten some good laughs from it and really felt better and realized how I should act around the holidays.

Pretty much the film juxtaposes the two most opposite characters and shows what kind of affect they'll have on each other. It shows how when a person is kinder, they may not be as popular, but they'll be happy, they'll have friends, and they'll be set for life. This movie isn't a classic in anyway.

The film has some great laughs, the deer are great throughout the film along with Whitey's brother, Elanor (also voiced by Sandler)and will keep you laughing until the last five minutes. The humor is a bit crude in some of the scenes and some of the antics Davey performs are cruel and terrible. But in the end , the film shows how a person should be during the holidays, how kindness is always the better choice, and how the past shouldn't haunt a person.

Eight Crazy Nights. Starring the voices of: Adam Sandler, Jackie Titone, Austin Stout, and Rob Schneider.

3 1/2 out of 5 Stars.