Hubie Halloween Review
On the Howard Stern Show last year, Adam Sandler issued a terrifying threat. If he didn't get the Best Actor Oscar for Uncut Gems and announced "I'm going to come back and win one more time that's so bad that I'm going to make you pay." Guess what? Joaquin Phoenix has a lot to answer for.
In reality, Hubie Halloween isn't the worst of the films to emerge from Sandler's 10-picture Netflix deal (that honor, for now anyway, goes to the terrible comedy spoof of the Western The Ridiculous Six). However, it's an unquestionable disappointment, following the refined speed that was Uncut Gems, to witness Sandler returning to the sloppy comedy genre, with a fast-paced, but almost hilarious horror film, that ought to have been dubbed "The Ridiculous 666'.
Universal's unsuccessful attempt to create an Dark Universe was to bring three of the most famous actors in the world: Tom Cruise, Russell Crowe and Johnny Depp. Sandler's Dark Universe doesn't aim quite as high, calling Rob Schneider, Kevin James and Shaquille O'Neal, who play crucial parts in the film's spooky tales. On the bright side, there's Steve Buscemi (with furry werewolf arms) as well as a few brief moments of Ray Liotta's fury, and a ten second clip of Ben Stiller in an over-sized moustache. It's one of the movie's most entertaining aspects.
In terms of Sandler himself, you've seen Hubie before, but not under that name. The shorts-wearing, Thermos-obsessed man-child, who cycles around Salem, Massachusetts, getting bullied by children and over-enthusiastically talking up the merits of pumpkins, is straight from the Sandler playbook, complete with that voice and a high-pitched scream whenever anything surprises him. This is, according to a rough estimation approximately each 15 second. It's a short hassle to keep track of the story, not least because the sloppy attempts at humor (fart jokes, T-shirts with fart jokes or"Hallo-weiner," and the like "Hallo-weiner") do not provide anything in the way of entertainment.
There's some fun to be had by watching an Adam Sandler comedy that cribs on John Carpenter films (one of the most memorable gags involves Hubie encountering hosts of local radio show similar to The Fog, and finding that there's more to it than it appears) It's more like a pleasant half-baked than a complete disaster. However, that's not much praise. With a time of 102 minutes Two things are certain: it's not a jewel, and plenty could be cut.
