"Just Some Reindeer Doing A Pyramid" (reviewed by AX)

I actually wasn't too excited about seeing this movie, it looked to me like Adam Sandler was doing a movie that little kids could go to and laugh at, something that was a bit more harmless than his usual stuff. Man was I wrong, I'm glad I was wrong, and I'm glad that I went to see it.

EIGHT CRAZY NIGHTS is not only funny as shit, but it's the perfect medium for Sandler to work in. It's a cartoon, think about the possibilities. As early as his first (and still best) film BILLY MADISON, we noticed his slightly off-center and borderline surrealist tendencies: the part where Billy sees the giant penguins, and later at the pool party when the clown falls and bleeds from his mouth, smiling the whole time. And LITTLE NICKY would have worked just as well as a cartoon, I think. Oh and just as a disclaimer, if you don't think Sandler is funny then you're an asshole.

So anyway, back to the movie itself. The animation is great, a throwback to a more traditional style (versus the computer-generated stuff we get a lot of these days), and allows Sandler to play multiple characters and stretch his comic imagination further than live-action could get away with. Fans of Saturday Night Live will be happy to hear the voices of Kevin Nealon and Rob Schneider playing major characters as well. Sandler's music is featured prominently in the film, just like in most cartoon features, but is of course peppered with hilariously weird and sometimes dirty lyrics. If you're a fan of this guy's albums, you'll definitely dig the movie.

The real joy that lies in EIGHT CRAZY NIGHTS is the fact that the humor is not watered-down just because this is a holiday-themed PG-13 cartoon. It doesn't cater to children, it caters to Sandler's fan base and built-in audience. For example, my favorite scene is when the town is gathered at the lodge for an awards ceremony, and the mayor tells a really lame knock-knock joke at the podium. The entire room erupts in wild laughter, and outside we see that a bunch of deer are on their backs in the snow, laughing so hard that they are shitting uncontrollably.

Now if that doesn't fill you with Christmas cheer, I don't know what will.

(12.1.02)