Bedtime Stories

Bedtime Stories



Comedy is a fickle beast. It changes as quickly as Michael Jackson's face. Once all you needed was a small jewish guy with a hitler tash to fall over to make audiences laugh. Nowadays, comedy is much more refined and works on subtle levels using jokes that aren't as 'on the nose' as they once were. With shows like 'Curb your enthusiasm' and 'Seinfeld' gaining recognition, you really need your thinking cap on if you wan't to have a laugh. That's why I champion comedy character actors like Will Ferrell, Mike Myers and Adam Sandler because they cast off the pretension of serious comedy and simply go all out for the laughs.

Bedtime Stories is Sandler's latest vehicle, brought to us from his own Happy Madison production company.

The "Story" in question, like most of Sandler's films, is about a blue-collar worker who makes it in a world reserved for the rich and snooty. Skeeter (Sandler) is asked by his sister (Courtney Cox) to look after her children while she's attends a job interview. Reluctantly agreeing, he's at a loss as to how to entertain the children. He decides to tell them a Bedtime Story, which curiously reflects the shitty day he had at work.

The next day a reflection of the story comes to life and Skeeter is presented with a chance to become the hotel manager, rather than changing its light-bulbs. Realising he's on to a good thing, he starts to manufacture stories that should result in him getting free ferraris and beautiful women. Unfortunately, it's the children who hold the magic and they're not willing to help.

There's a romantic subplot between Sandler and the children's teacher, Jill. It turns out that she's loosing her job as the hotel is knocking down the school for development. Skeeter has to learn to put other people's interests first, so that he can be the true hero of the story.

Sandler is supported by his usual cast of pals, including Rob Scheider and new best chum Russell Brand. Guy Pearce hams it up as the villain who continuously sets himself up for pratfalls.

The story is nice and heart-warming and definitely aimed at kids. Which does tone down the humour somewhat. The funniest jokes are centred on the bug-eyed guinea pig, Bugsy, who gets all the fart jokes to himself. The film isn't going to overjoy fans of Big Daddy, Waterboy and Happy Gilmore (like me) but it wasn't aimed at us.

Verdict 7/10
A sweet fable with all its teeth removed.