par “Hubie Halloween” attempts to get a lot of comedy mileage out of Adam Sandler yelling like he’s about to die. Another of the Sandman’s lovable grown children, Hubie has become the target of constant pranks by everyone in the town of Salem, especially around Halloween. This allows Sandler scene after scene of people mocking him, throwing things at him, and terrifying him. Of course, being a Sandler movie, it’s also a wish fulfillment underdog story. There’s never any doubt that Hubie will save the day, win the town over, and even get the girl. All of this predictability is forgivable at times due to the overall affability of the project, especially when compared to more abrasively awful Netflix Happy Madison productions, but it’s another one of those Sandler flicks that suffers from slack, lazy filmmaking. That it’s more enjoyable than something like “The Ridiculous Six” or “The Do-Over” feels like the faintest of praise.
Sandler reunites his team of regular collaborators again for a Halloween-themed comedy about Salem’s most intimidated guy. Self-anointed Halloween monitor, Hubie (nicknamed « Pubie » by most townspeople, of course) spends the holiday season making sure the kids don’t buy a suspicious amount of toilet paper, but he is usually content with the constant torture of everyone around him. This year’s chaos isn’t helped by the escape of a notorious mental patient who might come to town or Hubie’s new neighbor (Steve Buscemi), who may or may not be an immortal werewolf. Living with his mother (June Squibb) and pining for the daughter (Julie Bowen) he’s been in love with since elementary school, Hubie is a classic Sandler creation, with a mumbled, heavily accented delivery that is never explained. He’s basically a vacation-themed version of his character from « The Waterboy. »
So many Sandler Buddies keep coming back to « Hubie Halloween » that it almost sounds like a fan service project. Now people come to a Happy Madison movie not only for Sandler himself, but expect to see former collaborators like Rob Schneider, Buscemi, Colin Quinn, Kevin James and even his odd assortment of star cameos like Dan Patrick and Shaquille O’Neal. . A first cameo here that connects to « Happy Gilmore » sets the stage for a film made entirely for HM fans, and director Steve Brill is bringing the same style he has done to other Madison films like « The Do-Over ”and“ Sandy Wexler. This means that « Hubie Halloween » ends up succumbing to the same pacing issues that plague nearly every one of these movies. There is no reason for “Hubie Halloween” to last longer than 90 minutes, and the film sags under the weight of repeated jokes and when Hubie’s initial naivety wears off. Almost all of the scenes last a little too long. Humor is all about timing, and I’ll never understand how someone as smart as Sandler creates comedies that have such an important element.
And yet I have to admit that there are bits and pieces, especially in the set-up during the first half hour, that made me laugh. The neighborhood kids who torment Hubie have gone from throwing food and toilet paper at the poor guy, to burning poop bags and even an ax. Buscemi is always welcome, even in games that don’t challenge him, and there are some fun faces in the supporting cast like Kenan Thompson, Maya Rudolph, and Ray Liotta. When « Hubie Halloween » gets surreal and unpredictable at times, he challenges that predictable brand of Happy Madison’s humor that has become so numbing. But that feeling starts to fade when you realize that Julie Bowen is playing a non-character, even by Happy Madison’s standards, and that Sandler and co-writer Tim Herlihy don’t have the urgency that comedy needs. to work. Even though the plot gets more intense when the people of Salem start to be kidnapped, giving Hubie a real mystery to solve, the timing drags out almost more frustratingly as there is enough of it here to piece together a comedy that would’ve worked.
While doing the press for “Uncut Gems,” Adam Sandler joked that if he didn’t get an Oscar for this movie, he would torture us and make the worst Netflix comedy ever made for revenge. The good news is, it’s not that movie. “Hubie Halloween” is generally entertaining enough to be harmless, yet still being the kind of movie people will have a hard time remembering it exists by the time it makes “Tommy Thanksgiving”.
Now available on Netflix.
