Last year, Adam Sandler gave arguably the best performance of his career in one of the best films of 2020, Josh and Benny Safdie’s mile-a-minute instant classic, “Uncut Gems.” As Howard Ratner, the ill-fated, lethally optimistic scumbag protagonist of that masterwork of New York City grime, Sandler didn’t exactly reinvent himself; he merely amplified and twisted some of his more recognizable screen tics – his oafishness, his uproarious manic outbursts, and his pronounced sense of Judaism, just to name of his more prominent screen qualities – into an arresting, frightening new dimension.
Alas, as we all know, the Sandman’s heart really isn’t in so-called “serious” acting, and he has sworn, in the wake of being snubbed by the Academy for his superlative work in “Gems,” that he would make his worst movie to date as a form of down-and-dirty comic retribution. Thankfully, “Hubie Halloween,” Sandler’s latest for Netflix, hardly qualifies as one of the actor’s worst offenders – if anything, it’s probably one of the better efforts that Sandler and his team have produced for the streaming platform. Granted, “Hubie Halloween” isn’t exactly “Fright Night,” but it’s a surprisingly wholesome movie, at least for the Sandman, and the film’s anarchic, proudly adolescent comic sensibility is a welcome throwback to the glory days of Sandler’s iconic ’90s comedy records.
Sandler seems pleased as punch to be back to his trademark puerile hijinks in “Hubie Halloween,” which is, in spite of its holiday theme, is yet another sweet, slaphappy Happy Madison yarn about a man-child searching for acceptance in the world, this time executed with a spooky, seasonally appropriate paranormal bent. “Hubie” is directed by Sandler pal Steven Brill, the journeyman comic director responsible for “Mr. Deeds” and “Sandy Wexler,” and while the movie bears all the standard hallmarks of a Sandler/Netflix collaboration – ’80s pop culture references, toilet humor aimed at middle schoolers, and an inexplicably beautiful love interest for the slovenly lead character – it’s the first product from the Happy Madison assembly line in some time where it feels as though filmmakers put just a smidge of thought into the visual language of the movie they were making. If nothing else, the good-natured, fitfully amusing “Hubie Halloween” is a notable improvement over the rancid likes of “The Do-Over” and “The Ridiculous 6.” It’s true that what I’m saying qualifies as faint praise, but it’s been a tough year and there are bigger problems in the world right now than “Hubie Halloween.” A little harmless laughter courtesy of the erstwhile Bobby Boucher isn’t the most terrible thing facing our species right now.
Sandler plays Hubie Dubois, another one of his bizarrely accented, dim-witted small-town folk heroes. Hubie lives with his kindhearted and protective mother (June Squibb) in Salem, Massachusetts. We know Hubie’s mother has a sense of humor because she named her son Hubert Schubert Dubois and because Squibb proudly rocks an assortment of eye-rolling novelty T-shirts that say things like “boner donor” and “if you can read this, you’re in fart range.” Hubie, who never goes anywhere without his trusty thermos full of soup (which doubles as a flashlight, among other things), spends most of his time as a community volunteer, frequently pestering the blustery local cop (Kevin James) for small, largely perceived transgressions. He’s a busybody, but in spite of his mush-mouthed speaking voice and hall monitor demeanor, Hubie is a kind and benevolent soul who seems to genuinely care about Salem and its people.
Unfortunately, Hubie’s fellow Salem inhabitants don’t see things that way. In fact, most of the townsfolk choose to ridicule and bully Hubie, and while the juvenile put-downs they dish out are par for the course for this sort of movie, it’s refreshing, for once, to see an Adam Sandler movie that at least makes its star the butt of all its jokes, as opposed to other people. A lovely, albeit grossly underwritten local waitress named Vicky Valentine (Julie Bowen, returning to the Sandler fold many years after “Happy Gilmore”) has had the hots for Hubie since grade school, but “Hubie Halloween” is far less concerned with a romance for Sandler’s garbling simpleton and more preoccupied with the supernatural doings of his strange new neighbor Walter (Steve Buscemi, who really must love making these movies) whose presence kicks the film itself into a mildly more surreal register.
Along the way, audiences are treated to the standard Sandler shenanigans, but more inspired and less lazy than usual, including a wonderfully deranged cameo from Shaquille O’ Neil, Rob Schneider, actually funny for once as an escaped mental patient, ‘SNL‘ pals Tim Meadows, Maya Rudolph, and Melissa Villaseñor rising above somewhat subpar material, and a brief, early hilarious appearance from one of the most memorably psychotic side players in the Sandler oeuvre (we’d never dream of spoiling it, but here’s a clue: “you’re in my world now, grandma”). There are a lot of callbacks to the Sandler apex of “Billy Madison” and “Happy Gilmore” in “Hubie Halloween,” and at its best, Brill’s goofball salvo aspires to the infectiously loony, try-anything-for-a-laugh energy of those slob comedy classics. It’s the kind of movie where there’s a projectile vomit gag in the first five minutes and, at a later point, a child literally throws a tuba at the lead character. The message is simple: either you’re on board or you’re not. I, somewhat sheepishly, admit I’m on board. . [C+]
“Hubie Halloween” is available now on Netflix.
