Grown Ups 2

The grown ups who never ‘grew up’ return, and are about as welcome as food poisoning.

After having the greatest time of his life three summers ago, Lenny (Adam Sandler), decides he wants to move his family back to his hometown and have them grow up with his gang of childhood friends and their kids. But between old bullies, new bullies, schizophrenic bus drivers, drunk cops on skis, psycho grade school girlfriends and 400 costumed party crashes he finds out that sometimes crazy follows you.

Grown Ups 2 is the second most miserable excuse for comedy that 2013 has offered (it was pipped at the post by the abysmal Movie 43). The bar is set to an impossibly low level from the opening scenes of a moose urinating on Adam Sandler and Salma Hayek. From there, Sandler, Chris Rock, Kevin James and David Spade attempt to limbo that bar to try and produce something that remotely resembles comedy. They fail.

The film is essentially plotless, an unrelenting stream of skits and realised anecdotes that weren’t funny enough to feature in their stand up shows. They don’t work here either, with many scenes being cut short because the jokes just didn’t flow as well as Sandler and co would have hoped. The finale, a predictable mass brawl, brings no fun to proceedings either, and the only time a smile will be raised is when the credits finally stop this abomination.

The concept of Grown Ups 2 is potentially a winning one: middle aged men trying to relive their youth. To an extent, the MTV show Jackass successfully achieves this, and is a far more entertaining watch. Avoid this mess at all costs.