In his first film aimed directly at the holiday younger set, Bedtime Stories firmly remains an Adam Sandler picture even though, save for Booger Monster-type humor, all but gone are the gross-out gags and inner-rage which defines Sandler’s most famous films and characters. The result is a lively, funny and enchanting fable the whole family will enjoy -and that would be my verdict even without the delicious shots taken at environmentalists and a cameo with The Mighty Rob Schneider.
Since he was a small child Skeeter Bronson (Sandler) has dreamt that, like his father Marty (Jonathon Pryce), he would spend his life running a hotel. Now that he’s all grown up, he still hangs on to that dream even though he’s never risen to be anything more than a conscientious but lowly handyman in the swank Los Angeles resort owned by Barry Nottingham (Richard Griffiths), the man who bought Marty out with the false promise that when he was grown, Skeeter would be put in charge. Eternally optimistic, Skeeter hangs in there, suffering every humiliation his boss Kendall (Guy Pearce) can come up with, in the futile hope his turn will someday come.
Because he punched out her husband at a 4th of July picnic (okay, there’s still some rage), Skeeter hasn’t seen his sister Wendy (Courtney Cox) in four years. Now divorced and soon to be unemployed when the school she’s principal of closes at the end of the year, she calls Skeeter to ask him to spend the week with Patrick (Jonathan Morgan Heit) and Bobbi (Laura Ann Kesling), his grade school-age nephew and niece, while she looks for a job out of state. He happily agrees but quickly realizes he doesn’t know them very well.
Wendy’s one of those uptight types afraid that junk food, meat, television or anything fun will permanently damage the kids. Thus the family bonding begins when Uncle Skeeter introduces them to the wonders of a hamburger and refuses to read their regular bedtime fare such as The Organic Squirrel Gets A Bike Helmet, which he dismisses as “Communist.”
With no other option to placate the kids, Skeeter, like his father did for him, makes up his own bedtime stories. But due to his circumstance, his tales are a little too personal and cynical for Patrick and Bobbi who chime in to cheer things up with happier but off-the-wall additions like raining gumballs and angry dwarfs.
With a little magical help from a guinea pig named Bugsy, the next day Skeeter discovers the bedtime stories are coming true in real life. Hoping to manipulate the situation beyond gumballs and dwarfs, Skeeter concocts various self-serving scenarios which cast him as a brave hero richly rewarded for saving the beautiful damsel in distress (his bosses Paris Hilton-like daughter, played by Teresa Palmer). Unfortunately, it’s not Skeeter’s part of the story that comes true, it’s whatever crazy stuff the kids come up with.
Where Bedtime Stories most succeeds is in the warmth department, no small thing for a family, holiday offering. Everything from the well-crafted cinematography and production design to the characters and their relationships creates a world you’re glad to be visiting for a little while. The bad guys aren’t terribly bad, the kids are adorable, and Sandler carries the whole picture like you would expect from a big, funny, caring uncle.
A nice piece of casting is the fetching Keri Russell as Jill, Skeeter’s eventual love interest. She’s Wendy’s friend and in charge of the kids during the day while Skeeter’s at work, but obviously also there to keep an uptight eye on everything. The acrimony that begins with her disapproval of his gas-guzzler and his pegging her with having a superior “Prius aura,” believably melts away as the kids bring out the best in both of them.
Other than a bit of a sag in the middle, the story clips along at a brisk and busy 95-minutes. The jokes are non-stop, the main characters are likable and warm, and the special effects cheesy but in a way perfectly suited for this kind of film. The kids will love Bugsy and the fantastical ground covered that takes Sandler from the Old West, to ancient Greece, to outer space.
Longtime readers won’t be surprised to learn that my personal favorite part of the film involves The Mighty Rob Schneider’s three scene cameo. Once again, he adds to the canon of political incorrectness by once again playing a character of a different race. Without fail, this always results in howls of protest from all the right people, and knowing it will do so again only enhances the viewing pleasure.
Bedtime Stories opens everywhere Christmas day.
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