Last year around the time for his Oscar campaigning for his excellent performance in Uncut gems, Adam Sandler touted that if he didn’t get nominated for the Oscar, then the next film he would make would be his worst yet. Hubie Halloween is certainly not that, and is actually a refreshing and very enjoyable comedy, with lots of nice flourishes and funny performances from lots and lots of great faces. Let’s get into this lovingly spooky movie.

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I know how stupid it sounds when I talk about a juvenile and joyous Adam Sandler comedy having an intriguing and not predictable kidnap mystery plot at the heart of it, but Hubie Halloween has just that. Sandler stars as Hubie Dubois, a lovingly moronic devotee to Halloween safety in the town of Salem. Bullied at absolutely every turn by adults and children alike. Children including Karan Brar as Mike Mundi, a fine little villain, who doesn’t really get many laughs, but does perpetuate the bullying of poor Hubie. The adults include Ray Liotta who’s seemingly in this film for no reason other than to add another name, albeit when he is there he is great to watch and I will never deny myself any screen time with Liotta. Tim Meadows and Maya Rudolph are both very funny as a married couple who find their greatest joys in their relationship when bullying Hubie and both are brilliant as two of the more grounded performances and characters in the film. The plot commences when these bullies one by one are taken by a mysterious villain, and as aforementioned the plot does keep us guessing and Sandler and Tim Herlihy’s script really does have a few nice twists. The most interesting developments regard Steve Buscemi’s Walter Lambert character, who may or may not be a werewolf. Buscemi is great fun whenever he’s onscreen and seems to be having the time of his life, as evidenced in the blooper reel. This energy of joy on set does makes its way onto the screen throughout and paired with the wickedly spooky autumnal vibe, leads to this film being a real family Halloween treat, with more than its fair share of serious chuckles and even a few belly laughs.

Oddly enough Sandler’s the biggest weak link here for me. He is mostly very funny and always very sweet, but his dumb voice really did grate on me sometimes and it just made him feel very, very cartoony in a way that really took me out of the film. This also has a major affect on the movie’s plot, with Julie Bowen being delightful as Violet Valentine. But Hubie, albeit an underdog, is just so painfully our of her league that the love interest just becomes a convention rather than a believable plotline that I’m invested in. Kevin James is the possible spanner in the works, as Sgt. Steve, the local chief of police and Violet’s ex-husband. James really plays it straight here and the film does gain a lot from this. I can only imagine how obnoxious it would be if James was playing one of his usually ridiculously annoying and painfully unfunny characters. Shaq even makes an appearance for a funny scene, that is very funny, but does stretch a little too much credulity for me to believe it and as boring as it sounds, rules are a huge thing for me in comedy. If a comedy doesn’t play by its rules or straddles too many tones, or rather doesn’t balance these tones well enough, then it really fails in my eyes. Hubie is no such failure, but does have a few scenes where I see red flags. Fortunately these red flags don’t hang around for too long.

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The film does have its flaws though. It’s just too long for a start, with some sequences that just don’t land and lead to some serious stretches of no laughs. But then June Squibb will show up wearing another funny shirt, in the great tradition of Teen wolf. Squibb is warm and blissfully unaware of just how funny she is in this and she makes a great addition to the rogue’s gallery of stars. But the film’s biggest flaw for me was an odd reliance on CGI laughs, instead of practical gags. I’ve noticed this more and more in modern comedies and I really can’t stand it. CGI eggs and melons being thrown at Sandler and missing don’t make me laugh. It’s a marginal difference, but it really does make a difference. Same with the gigantic plume of vomit from the start of the film, the lack of realism really just leads to it playing dead for me. This is all a big issue with the multiple falling down gags in the film which are all extenuated by CGI, hence just not making them funny for me at all. The film’s director Steve Brill does keep a nice clip to this film and for the most part it is paced very well, with lots of great haunting needle drops and a few moments of genuine tension and a few good scares. All in all the film is a perfect Halloween treat, and one that I will most likely return to in the Halloweens to come.

 

A very enjoyable 6/10, offering a return to form for Sandler in the world of stupid comedies. This still isn’t Happy Gilmore, but it’s often very funny, often surprisingly well constructed, even if it does feature a few lulls. If this was a tight 90 minutes, it may very well have climbed a little higher up in its ranking.

P.S. Fans of Jaws take note of the jacket design for the mayor. But let the record show that Murray Hamilton is still one of our most under-rated actors, giving us two of the greatest supporting performances of all time in Jaws and The graduate. Aswell as that great episode of The twilight zone. God, I wish we had him for longer.

P.P.S I am a Gilmore guy so Stiller’s appearance completely sold me on the film before it had even started. As a matter of fact, I really could have done with more of Hal. I mean, who doesn’t need that in their lives.

-      - Thomas Carruthers