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.

Adam Sandler's first (and to date, only) animated feature, "Eight Crazy Nights," takes a cue from his infamous "Chanukah Song" in celebrating the Jewish holiday -- as well as good old commercial Christmas -- musical style. With all the typical Sandler comedic hallmarks, it's certainly not a children's feature, but is admittedly a lot softer and more toned down than, say, "Happy Gilmore" or "Billy Madison."

The story revolves around the self-loathing loser, Davey, who is essentially a by-the-books "Happy Madison" character. Since his better days have passed him by, he spends most of his time being drunk and unhappy while simultaneously making everyone around him miserable. Because justice apparently takes a holiday, he is let off the hook for a drunken misdemeanor in turn for some community service. Davey must coach a youth league basketball team with the help of a bizarre little old man by the name of Whitey who has a disturbingly hairy body and who still lives with his sister. Slowly, Davey starts to redeem himself and even takes a stab at winning back the girl who got away from him.

Aside from being typical Adam Sandler fare, "Eight Crazy Nights" is rather vibrant in both its animation style and its musical numbers. It's simply a predictable, yet feel-good story that no doubt has worked its way into becoming somewhat of a holiday classic. Adam Sandler provides the voices of all three main characters, while the usual gaggle of co-horts in Jon Lovitz, Kevin Nealon, Rob Schneider and Allen Covert show up, too.

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.

It's Adam Sandler, so you get what you expect. Very crude humour (especially toilet humour) and a ludicrous plot. I laughed a lot and that's what matters to me.

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.