Jack and Jill

Wonder Twin Powers, Deactivate!

Director: Dennis Dugan

Writers: Steve Koren, Ben Zook
Cast: Adam Sandler, Katie Holmes, Al Pacino, David Spade, Nick Swardson

SYNOPSIS: What starts as the short annual Thanksgiving holiday visit from his needy and annoying twin sister Jill, ends up being a battle for Jack to find a way to get her to leave.

REVIEW: The list of Adam Sandler movies is long. Happy Gilmore, Big Daddy, I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry, You Don't Mess with the Zohan, Grown Ups, and Just Go With It, just to name a few. And for the record, Dennis Dugan has directed them all, including the now in theaters Jack and Jill. Written by Steve Koren (Click) from a story by Ben Zook (Can't Stop Dancing), Jack and Jill marks an Adam Sandler acting career spanning almost a quarter century.

Jack Sadelstein (Adam Sandler) and his family prepares to host his twin sister Jill (Adam Sandler) for the Thanksgiving weekend. With the death of their mother earlier in the year, the needy and annoying Jill decides to make her first lonely holiday season stay much longer. As Jack tries unsuccessful different ways to curtail her stay before his family cruise to Europe, he starts to realize that Jill may hold the only way to snag Al Pacino (himself) for a Dunkin Donuts commercial. All the while, Jack's landscaper Felipe seems to also have taken a shine to forlorn Jill.

Filled with Adams usual suspects from his other films, we get a look at Norm MacDonald as a perspective Jill suitor with the screen name of 'Funbucket', Allen Covert as a homeless man invited to Thanksgiving dinner by Jack and Jill's parents, Nick Swardson as not-thinking-before-he-speaks co-worker Todd, and even David Spade as Jack ex-girlfriend Monica. New to the universe of Adam Sandler films, Katie Holmes stars as Jack's wife Erin, with Elodie Tougne as daughter Sofia and Rohan Chand as scotch tape obsessed son Gary. Cameos abound with celebrity pop-ins and stand-outs, but most seem to be cheese and missed opportunities.

I am a fan of most Sandler's films, loving his romantic comedies of 50 First Dates, The Wedding Singer, and the different concept Click. Even Grown Ups had a goofy, silly, and sweet story. While Steve Koren gave us a caring silly romp with Click, Jack and Jill starts off as an interesting concept that ends up being lame jokes, potty humor, weird acting, and a story that gives us a few laughs, but little else. The best parts of the film are when Nick Swardson's Todd comes on screen to put his foot in his mouth in front of his boss, and one of the best two minute cameos involves Dana Carvey as a intestine puppeteer.

Sandler fans beware. Jack and Jill should not be added to your list of must sees or must haves. An interesting concept gone wrong, I can see you coming out a few smiles and gross-out laughs heavier, but a few too many dollars lighter.

WORTH: Rental

Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark

Creature Comforts

Director: Troy Nixey
Writers: Guillermo del Toro, Matthew Robbins, Nigel McKeand
Cast: Bailee Madison, Katie Holmes, Guy Pearce, Jack Thompson, Julia Blake


SYNOPSIS: A girl sent to live with her father and his girlfriend at an old estate during renovation discovers strange light-sensitive creatures that want to steal her away to their underground home.

REVIEW: Troy Nixey, writer, producer and director of Latchkey's Lament, takes the reins of a story from Guillermo del Toro and Matthew Robbins based on the 1973 teleplay written by Nigel McKeand. Nixey and the creative force of del Toro and Robbins make key changes to the original television movie that work better on the big screen without sacrifice the heart of the 1973 story.

In the original television movie, young couple Sally and Alex Farnham inherit an old mansion where whispering demon-like creatures chip away at Sally's sanity and the couple's relationship. In the revised del Toro story, the young couple is replaced with a divorced architect father Alex (Guy Pearce), his interior designer girlfriend Kim (Katie Holmes) and Alex's daughter Sally (Bailee Madison). While Alex and Kim renovate the old Blackwood estate in hopes of having the house appear on the over of an architectural magazine, young Sally explores the gardens and rooms. To the chagrin of contractor Mr. Harris, Sally finds the hidden basement studio of the long-missing Mr. Blackwood and starts hearing whispering voices behind the bolted shut ash chute.

Classic to del Toro's style, it is a child that the story centers around. Bailee Madison, a young veteran actress from Brothers and Just Go With It, allows the tension to mount quicker and wind tighter. Her innocence opens the bolts clamping down the ash chute cover, freeing the creatures that only want to claim her as one of her own. In the scene where Sally explores the gardens around the estate with pollen and petals swirling in the air, you can not help but compare it to the magical world of Pan's Labyrinth. Bailee Madison's superb acting drives the film forward, every gasp and startle crucial to the story. Katie Holmes stars as Sally's dad's girlfriend, desperate to win the affection of his boyfriend's child early in the film, then desperate to help Sally as she fears for her life against the whispering, greedy creatures.

The other stars of the film are the tooth craving denizens of the world under the ash chute. Imagine a sea of deformed, scissor and razor blade wielding faeries, capable of rivaling the brutality of the Zuni Fetish doll made so popular by Karen Black and Trilogy of Terror.

The story is satisfying, the updates appropriate, and the tension palatable. A worthy successor to the original early 70s 'Movie of the Week' entry, this film is a fun, scary, startling popcorn fest. Fans of del Toro will enjoy this update and fans of the genre will appreciate what Nixoy, del Toro and Robbins put on screen.

WORTH: Matinee and DVD