The Ridiculous 6

Dir: Frank Coraci

2015

***

I’m about as far from being a fan of Adam Sandler as you can get. Billy Madison, Happy Gilmore, Little Nicky, Big Daddy – I couldn’t stand them. Everyone loved The Wedding Singer when it came out apart from me. That said, I loved Punch-Drunk Love and I thought maybe things could be different for the comedian, but no, he remade Mr Deeds Goes To Town the same year, one of my favourite films of all time and he made a horrible mess of it. I do have a soft spot for 50 First Dates but again, it’s frustrating to see how great he can be and then throw it all away on a lame gross-out comedy. While he didn’t star in it, I think it is important to remember that Sandler wrote Bucky Larson: Born to be a Star – easily the worst film made in the last couple of decades – maybe even of all time. Like I said, I’m really not much of a Adam Sandler supporter. However, as low as ratings were for The Ridiculous 6, I gave it a go with an open mind and to my surprise, I didn’t hate it. I actually laughed a couple of time. I can’t believe it myself but I found the film to be rather likable. It’s no masterpiece and many of the jokes fell flat but there are some lovely characters here and quite a few of the jokes worked. Sandler has been rather generous and has given most of the best lines and scenes to the other cast members, all of who are really good in their roles. I’m not much of a Rob Schneider fan either but he’s great, as is Terry Crews, Luke Wilson, Nick Nolte and Steve Zhan. I thought Jorge Garcia and Taylor Lautner were very good in their unexpected roles and Danny Trejo, Harvey Keitel, Steve Buscemi, David Spade, Jon Lovitz, John Turturro and Vanilla Ice provided a rather rich and fruitful collection of cameo performances. Also, and I can’t believe I’m saying this, but The Ridiculous 6’s cinematography is brilliant and a far more impressive than that seen in Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight. The two films came out together and The Ridiculous 6 was clearly a poke at The Hateful Eight and the hype it had accumulated. Sandler and Tarantino are friends, so it was all done in playful jest but seriously, The Ridiculous 6 has some of the best western-style compositions I have ever seen. I liked the story and the little sub-plots that occurred within it. Certain scenes, the baseball one staring John Turturro in particular, were quite clever satires. Sure, the donkey would have projectile diarrhoea now and again but more often than not this silly western would use situations of old as clever explorations of just how ridiculous many of the daily rituals we partake in these days really are. Of course, one of the biggest reasons why The Ridiculous 6 also works is because we are watching a big group of old friends having fun. It doesn’t matter whether you like them or even know them but there is always something very appealing about watching the interaction and chemistry between old friends being silly together. There is something a bit ‘Three Amigos’ about the film. It actually steals a character and three jokes from Three Amigos but beyond that, it never takes itself seriously, it’s likably silly, with a funny sort of tenderness about it. I can’t really explain it, maybe I was tired and maybe my guard was down but I enjoyed it. Maybe, just maybe, someone who you generally don’t like can make a film that you do like once and a while. I can’t understand why The Ridiculous 6 is Sandler’s lowest rated film, I guess people wrote it off before even watching it – which I understand as I almost did the same. It’s no masterpiece but I’ve seen a thousand times worse (see Sandler’s other films).

Click
Dir: Frank Coraci
2006
*
Click is fairly dumb, even for an Adam Sandler film. The idea may not be that original but it could have had huge potential in the right hands. It starts off silly, then get depressingly dramatic and then totally surreal, none of which can be taken seriously and none of which seemed particularly thought out. Just when it gets close to actually being thought provoking, heartwarming or even interesting, the dog humps the cuddly duck and we all laugh. Well, I didn't laugh, I was too busy cursing the TV and scratching my head. What a mess. One star for the awesome Henry Winkler and for punching David Hasselhoff in the face.

Here comes the Boom
Dir: Frank Coraci
2012
**
Here comes the Boom is fairly harmless unless you take it too seriously but I'm not sure why you would. It's perhaps a little unfair to teachers but the three leads are played by extremely likable actors and the film does have its moments, I chuckled a couple of times in fact. It's a silly idea and I don't like the way everything seems to be solved by fighting or winning for that matter but like I said, best not to take it too seriously. It's got Henry Winkler in it and that will do nicely.

Around the World in 80 Days
Dir: Frank Coraci
2004
*
Frank Coraci's version of Around the World in 80 Days is a horrible adaptation of the book although I think they were going more for a remake of the 1956 version staring David Niven. For some reason they've decided to ignore the fact that the original story is entertaining enough as it is, and instead of telling it they've turned it into a live action cartoon style martial arts film. Apart from the fact Jackie Chan is in it, I can't work out why they thought this was a good idea. The original story has already been made in to a cartoon; Around the World with Willy Fog which I have to say was far superior. I can only imagine they thought loads of cameos was just as good as a good story, maybe people won't notice the bad script if we just stick Macy Gray here and John Cleese there. Many of the cameos should have known better, although I'm sure they all needed the money. The less said about Arnold Schwarzenegger's performance the better although it does sum up the film quite fairly; A bad idea.