*yawns* *sighs*

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The Week Of (2018)

Directed by Robert Smigel
Written by Robert Smigel and Adam Sandler
Produced by Allen Covert and Adam Sandler
Starring Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Rachel Dratch, Steve Buscemi, Alison Strong and Noah Robbins


Originally Released April 27th, 2018.


     You know that feeling you get when you realize that you've only been doing something for 20 minutes but it feels like it's been hours? Well that's more or less how it felt to watch this. 20 minutes in, I was ready for a nap and/or a good slap in the face. Really anything other than continuing with what I can only assume is the work of a computer program instructed to write a screenplay based on what it thinks movies are. But guys, I couldn't get to the theatre this week, so I took one for the team. Now you don't have to watch The Week Of, because I sat through all 116 minutes of it for you and only fell asleep twice (an achievement, I promise). So now, let me lay on you a review more entertaining than it's subject. The bar was low this week, gang. Let's do this.

Hahaha we're so rich!

   
     With a plot so thin you could spit through it, it feels a little wrong to even dignify it with a synopsis, but I have a format to stick to. A working class family from Long Island hosts their daughter's fiance's well off extended family the week before her wedding, for some reason. The families get along well, except for their respective patriarchs, played by Chris Rock and Adam Sandler. Sandler's character, the less affluent of the two, insists on paying for everything and continues to refuse financial Rock's help, even as everything that could go wrong does. In the end, they learn some valuable lessons from each other. How to lighten up for Rock's character and how to accept help when it's offered for Sandler's. This is surrounded by roughly 100 minutes of poop jokes and strippers on trampolines. We're working with some pretty basic stuff. It's not War and Peace.



     I still maintain, as I have for years, that Rachel Dratch is one of the funniest people alive. Her presence will improve any project she takes part in, so naturally, she's a high point in this movie. She totally nails the socially clueless, well meaning mother who would die for her kids. A pretty funny recurring bit is hers and Sandler's characters having screaming fights that the rest of the family can hear word for word that ultimately end in exchanging angry sounding compliments to each other. It's her performance that really makes that joke work. I'll never forget the first time I saw the Debbie Downer sketch on SNL. Not even her cast mates can keep it together in that one. Obviously she's elevated by good material, but even without (like in this case), she's a fucking riot. I'd also like to mention that Adam Sandler is much better dramatic actor than a comedic one. If you're skeptical of this assertion, may I point you to Punch Drunk Love, Spanglish, and Reign Over Me. The few moments in this film where he gets to do some serious acting are some of the only good ones.


   

Funny, I was making the same face as Adam Sandler here
by the end of the movie too, but for different reasons I think.

     While the technical style of The Week Of is designed to be so subtle it's virtually non existent, the camera work is stylistically important. I might be giving this movie more credit than it deserves, but I cling to the belief that every movie has merit in some form (for the love of god, I need that to be true). The idea here is that the hosting family is very "normal". Honestly, they make that work.  They've cast some average looking people and achieved a more or less realistic family dynamic among the Long Islanders. The camera work emphasizes this. It's almost filmed like a Mocumentary, just with a film frame rate as opposed to video. Most shots are handheld mediums, intended to put you right there with the characters. The scenes that take place in cars are shot locked off and a little fished eyed, like they're filmed from mounted cameras on the inside of the car (much like reality TV). While it isn't a massive feat, and doesn't really do anything to improve the overall result, it's a nice little deliberate choice.


   
     So the two families coming together to witness this unnecessary, costly and stressful event are Jewish on the Bride's side and Black on the Groom's. Straying from what you'd generally expect from a Hollywood movie, the Black family is the more affluent and sophisticated of the two. Because these families represent two very different but similarly oppressed-by-white-christians minorities, there are plenty of opportunities to make a joke of their differences. It's easy, low hanging fruit. And whether it's the intention or not, the result is often racist. I was really surprised that crutch wasn't used more frequently. I can only think of one, maybe two instances where race or religion are used as the setup or punchline for a joke. For the most part, these two families accept each other with no caveats, no judgment. Both sides seem to genuinely appreciate the other and embrace them as new members of their respective families. That's a nice thing to see.


   
     I believe that it takes as much work to make a bad movie as it does to make a good one. Lots of good, talented, dignified people worked hard on this artistic representation of paint drying. They deserve our respect. I'd like to thank those people for what they did. You folks are the salt of the earth. Keep it up! Anyway, as I was saying, this was some underwhelming shit. I was expecting it to be bad, but I wasn't expecting it to be so dull. It had it's moments, as all films do (well, most), just not enough of them. 4/10, would not recommend.



***

Yeah I don't know. I'll have something cooler for you next week. Seriously though watch some of those other Adam Sandler movies I mentioned. Punch Drunk Love is wonderful. Fuck, you know a movie's bad when you end a review recommending other films. Well, thems the breaks.

See you pals next week. Try to avoid The Week Of!