Adam Sandler comedies are like marmite. They're an acquired taste. Netflix made that huge deal with him a while back and they seem to be just throwing stuff at the proverbial wall to see what sticks. This time around we have a family comedy centered around Halloween. It this one a winner? Here's my review.
Despite his devotion to his hometown of Salem (and its Halloween celebration), Hubie Dubois is a figure of mockery for kids and adults alike. But this year, something is going bump in the night, and it's up to Hubie to save Halloween. (Premise from IMDB)
So was this a winner? Short answer? No. It's not a winner. Long answer? It's complicated. There was a lot I liked about Hubie Halloween. It oozed with Halloween spirit from the very beginning which is a true bonus while we're in the season. If you're anything like my wife and I, you watch a lot of horror movies around Halloween, but sit back and think of how many of them are actually based around the holiday and out of those, how many actually make you feel the Halloween spirit. Off the top of my head I can think of Hocus Pocus, Halloweentown, Trick r' Treat, maybe a few of the Halloween films. But that's when my memory starts to wane and I'd have to rely on google to think of more. So this film has that going for it.
It also has a good cast. Adam Sandler, Julie Bowen, Kevin James, Ray Liotta, Steve Buscemi, Rob Schneider, Maya Rudolph, Tim Meadows, Michael Chiklis, June Squibb, George Wallace, Kenan Thompson, Shaquille O'Neal, Ben Stiller, Noah Schnapp, and a handful of current SNL players. That's a good cast right there. Not really an A list, but a list that's perfectly set for a fun movie. But there's a catch. For a fun cast to make a fun movie, you have to have a fun script.
That's where Hubie Halloween fell short. It wasn't a bad idea, but there was so much hate and negativity in the film that it kept me from really enjoying it. The townsfolk hate Hubie. They hate him with a passion. He's weird and they hate him because he's weird. That's it. It's the classic story that's been told for years. The popular people hate and ostracize those who are different. Don't misunderstand, I'm not jumping on a soapbox here. While bullying IS wrong, that's not the point of this blog. It's just an old plot told without a speck of joy in it with so much negativity that it holds the film back. The towns people of Salem are horrible in this movie. There are only a handful of characters even worth a damn. If this was a slasher film, most of that cast would be dead at the end because they deserve it.
The other issue I have with this movie is Sandler's Waterboy style of comedy. If you look at his comedies, they can be broken down into two main categories. He's either a screaming asshole, or a mentally slow moron. Hubie is the latter of the two. And since we're now in the woke year of 2020, we have an important question to ask. For his characters like Bobby Boucher and Hubie Dubois, are they mentally handicapped? Is that why they have that affected voice and act so weird and don't understand social norms? If so, isn't that not okay?
This is running long so let me wrap this up. The biggest and most blaringly unforgivable issue with this movie is the fact that it's just not funny. It tries to hard to tell boring and rehashed jokes, there's nothing original, and there's not even enough to enjoy to make the lack of originality ignorable.
There was a good idea in this film but it's beyond saving. The only reason to watch this is because of the over abundance of Halloween spirit. That's it.
Hubie Halloween gets a 4.5 out of 11
Special Note: I wanted to love this film. I wanted to love it because the young actor Cameron Boyce from the Grown-Ups movies, was supposed to play the role of Mike Mundi but passed away just days before filming. Boyce's parents asked that Karan Brar be cast in the role as Karan and Cameron were best friends. I wanted to love this movie because of that story that's equal parts sad and uplifting.
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