By Geno McGahee
Adam Sandler is known for working with the same people. Most of them have been friends from SNL and the Happy Madison brand has given each an outlet to make money and make films. Sandler is known for a lot of bad movies, but he’s also had some classics like THE WEDDING SINGER and HAPPY GILMORE.
Most recently, Netflix has adopted Happy Madison and they have made a lot of films under the banner. HUBIE HALLOWEEN is the latest Sandler creation and it is a celebration of the holiday along with a nostalgic journey through the career of Sandler.
Hubie Dubois (Sandler) is an outcast and the character is very much like the Waterboy character. He is a dimwitted and friendly guy that lives with his mother in Salem. He is tormented by the townspeople, including the O’Doyle family that has been in several Sandler movies. “O’Doyles rule!”
There is an escaped mental patient and we see the return of Orderly Hal (Ben Stiller) from HAPPY GILMORE. It was nice to see him back. That character was always funny and it set the tone for the film that Sandler wanted this one to be a celebration of his prior work.
Hubie has a crush on Violet, played by Julie Bowen, and she was the love interest of Sandler’s in HAPPY GILMORE. She used to be married to Sgt. Downey (Kevin James) and he is less than kind to Hubie. Another thorn in his side is Mr. Landolfa (Ray Liotta), who constantly harasses Hubie and finds a lot of joy in it.
It’s Halloween night and Hubie is a self-appointed guardian of the holiday, making sure that kids don’t take too much candy, don’t drink, and don’t make out. He is the town joke, but there are some strange things going and they are all linked to the escaped mental patient. There is another potential problem with the new neighbor, Walter (Steve Buscemi). He is strange and is a suspected werewolf. Buscemi has been in a few Sandler movies and is always entertaining.
The hunt is now on and Hubie is looking for a killer or werewolf or something else that might be causing trouble in Salem. There are various suspects and potential causes and it leads to the reveal of the villain of the film at the end.
HUBIE HALLOWEEN is a tribute to the films of the past in the Sandler catalogue and it’s nice to see some of the people back, but it’s not a very good film. If you are a fan of the Happy Madison brand, you will probably enjoy this to a certain extent, but when you get beyond the nostalgia, there’s not much here. I’m pretty disappointed and I don’t often say that when discussing Adam Sandler movies, but I expected this to be better than it was. It had its moments and Buscemi was great, as usual, and I also liked Julie Bowen in this. She was very funny.
Overall, I reluctantly recommend HUBIE HALLOWEEN, but it’s not something that I’d ever watch again and it’s pretty forgettable. You can see what Sandler tried to do here, but it just didn’t land like he wanted it to.
