Sandler and Samberg Co-Star in Crude Father-Son Comedy
Anybody familiar with the work of Adam Sandler knows he built his career playing dim-witted characters like Billy Madison (1995), Happy Gilmore (1996), and The Waterboy (1998) in coarse comedies that appealed to the lowest common denominator. So, his loyal fan base won’t be disappointed by this latest offering, a film about yet another pea-brained protagonist.
In case you’re wondering, That’s My Boy is not a remake of the Jerry Lewis/Dean Martin college football classic, but is based on an original script by David Caspe. Sandler stars as Donnie Berger, a father desperate for a reunion and chance of redemption with his estranged son, Hans Solo (Andy Samberg).
However, Hans was so ashamed of being born as a result of the statutory rape of Donnie, who was an adolescent, by his junior high school teacher (Eva Amurri Martino) that Hans changed his name and disappeared the first chance he got. His unremorseful mother was sentenced to a long prison term for statutory rape but Donnie Berger, his slacker of a father, never really amounted to anything.
Fast-forward to the present where we find Donnie down-on-his-luck and $43,000 in debt to the IRS. He is wasting his days drinking at Classy Rick’s Bacon and Leggs, a seedy suburban strip club.
The plot thickens when Donnie accidentally discovers the new identity of his long-lost son. It turns out that he is Todd Peterson, who is a successful hedge fund manager about to get married to a refined socialite (Leighton Meester) from a prominent family. Donnie decides to track down his son with the help of a fellow has-been, a one-hit singer named Vanilla Ice.
Not surprisingly, Todd is embarrassed by the arrival of his disreputable father, and does his best to distance himself from him. Consequently, much of the ensuing humor is drawn from the shocking contrast between upper and lower class sensibilities.
A cross between The Three Stooges and Meet the Parents, That’s My Boy trades in typical Sandler fare, namely cheap jokes at the expense of the most vulnerable members of society such as: minorities, the disabled, and the mentally-challenged. When you factor in the profusion of profanity, graphic sexuality, and pedophilia, it adds up to a tasteless waste of time with no redeeming value.
Poor (0 stars). Rated R for nudity, sexuality, drug use, ethnic slurs, crude humor, and pervasive profanity. Running time: 114 minutes. Distributor: Columbia Pictures.