Review - Jack and Jill

Did Jack and JillBreak Adam Sandler’s Crown?

Jack Sadelstein (Adam Sandler) is working hard to keep his business afloat. As a commercial producer, he is full of clients but about to lose one of his biggest accounts, Dunkin Donuts. He needs to land Al Pacino for their new product or they will walk.

As he starts his quest to land the big fish, he needs to welcome his twin sister to town for some “twin time”. Yes, his twin, Jill is also played by Sandler. So Jack and Jill don’t go up the hill much in this film, it’s more of the tumbling down the hill that takes place.

As Jack tries to bond with his hard to get along with sister; he finds out that Al Pacino is in love with Jill. Well there is the opening he can’t miss as he would easily sell his sister down the river for an account, but in this case, the guy really likes Jill!

How can the man who dislikes his sister so much get her to see the man who might be his only chance to keep his business afloat? Can he be civil with her, or will this be the end of his relationship with his twin AND his business?

When I first saw a trailer on this film a while back, I really wondered if it would be a good move for Sandler. I’m one of those critics that really likes him, yeah I know, memberships are being revoked everyone for me as you read this. But it’s true; Sandler knows how to get at my funny bone. Jack and Jill swung and not only missed the funny bone, it missed more than that.

I was amazed at the small roles in this film, and that is what did have me laughing. A birthday party for the twins sees the likes of Jared Fogle(The Subway guy), Vince Offer (The Sham-Wow guy), and even Billy Blanks(Tai-Bo Master). I had the most laughs there during the entire movie. Sure the normal standbys show up as well including David Spade as, well his/her own version of Jill, named Monica. But instead of being filled with laughter it came up short.

At least with this kid at heart, Jack and Jill didn’t live up to the family friendly PG rated romp of the season. The premise took away from the whole film and the simple demeaning of everything around the ridiculously played Jill made things feel a bit mean spirited at times. Jack and Jill didn’t break Adam Sandler’s crown – he’s still a very funny guy, it just tarnished it a bit.

C-/D+

Jack and Jill

Columbia Pictures

Director: Dennis Dugan

Cast: Adam Sandler, Al Pacino, Katie Holmes

Rating: PG for crude and sexual humor, language, comic violence and brief smoking.

Runtime: 1 hour 31 minutes