How The West Wasn't Won..."The Ridiculous 6"

The Ridiculous 6 (2015)

Not Rated

Starring Adam Sandler, Terry Crews, Nick Nolte, Rob Schneider, Jorge Garcia, Taylor Lautner, Luke Wilson, Will Forte, Steve Zahn, Harvey Keitel, Danny Trejo, David Spade, Jon Lovitz, Vanilla Ice,
Directed by Frank Coraci

The Story:

Tommy (Sandler) was raised by Indians after his mom died. When his father (Nolte) finally finds him after all these years, he is quickly taken away by Cicero (Trejo) to find the money that he thinks is his. Tommy goes after his dad and discovers that he has 5 brothers from other mothers and they ride into the West to get $50,000 in order to save their dad's life!

Wow, this one goes off the rails quickly and never fully recovers.

I'm usually the first in line to proclaim that an Adam Sandler isn't that bad.

However, for whatever reason, this movie starts off very slow, and very unfunny. There are amusing bits, but when you sign on for a movie like this, with this much talent on display, there needs to be laughs, not smiles when a joke or gag hits the screen.

Perhaps it is the legacy of Blazing Saddles that will forever make any western comedy feel something less than great, but a lot of this has to fall onto Sandler's shoulders as co-writer of this piece.

He's assembled a great cast, many of whom I don't mention in the credits above simply because of how many people are in this film for a bit part or larger.

The other is the running (or dragging) time of this film.

2 hours?!

No.

Comedies should clock in at 90, maybe 100 minutes. At nearly 120 minutes, most of them laugh free, that's interminable for a comedy.

Add to that the horribly annoying Taylor Lautner's Forrest Gump inspired idiot brother, I wanted to punch something just about any time he's on screen.

Which was way more often than he should have been. Which could have cut back the running time of the film considerably.

:)

That said, there are a few pieces that actually work in this film.

Most notable, John Turturro's arrival as Abner Doubleday who decides to create a little game, and proceeds to make up the rules as he goes along.

That scene is funny, and actually feels like how the rules of baseball were likely made up!

Plus, Vanilla Ice as a strangely inspired version of Mark Twain is ridiculous, but in a good way.

I want to give these guys a break, with the whole 4 picture exclusive to Netflix deal, but with a cast and crew that should know better, I think I'm going to have to downgrade this to a Turkey of the Year candidate.

Final Grade: D+

Yo Vanilla, Kick it One Time...."That's My Boy!"

There are two types of movie watchers:

Those that hate Adam Sandler movies, and those that don't.

I am definitely in the camp of the latter, and have seen almost every film Adam Sandler has starred in.

And for the most part, I've enjoyed them all.

The plot:

Donny Berger has a crush on his high school teacher.  The teacher reciprocates, and 9 months later, Donny is a daddy, and his love is behind bars.  So Donny attempts to raise a child, but isn't the best dad ever.  The son leaves, and wants nothing to do with his father.

Fast forward nearly 30 years later, and Donny needs some money.  His fleeting fame from back in the day is just about all cashed out, and he's facing prison.  Luckily, his son seems to be well to do, and a sleazy Jerry Springer type is offering Donny the money he needs if he can reunite the whole family at the women's prison before the end of the weekend.



Over the last few years, many of Sandler's films have been edging into family fare, so Sandler apparently wanted to show the world that he can still drop F Bombs with the rest of the world, and attempted to make a raunchier film than he has in a while.  I guess he doesn't want to lose the market on the genre.

So where does this film stack up in the pantheon of cinematic treasures that Adam Sandler has given us?

It's not his worst film, that honor still belongs to Punch Drunk Love.  Yeah, the only film that critics have liked, was boring... zzzzz...

: )

This falls right in the middle.  Funny, but not hilarious.

In fact, I'd give this one the antithesis of The Wedding Singer.

That film was a great film, that was pushed over the top with the inclusion of Billy Idol, playing himself, to put the icing on the cake and make the movie perfect.

This one takes a middling idea, and the inclusion of Vanilla Ice, playing himself, salvages the movie and actually makes it worth watching.

Little Nicky still remains Sandler's least funny starring vehicle after he had made it big.    I could see watching it again in a few years, but this wouldn't be one that would be watched by me more than once a year.

Rental...not a purchase.