Last year, while being interviewed by Howard Stern, Adam Sandler said if he didn’t get a Best Actor nomination for Uncut Gems, he would make a film that was bad on purpose. Hubie Halloween is Sandler’s first film since not getting nominated, so it would appear this is the promised revenge movie, but I am “pleased,” for lack of a better word, to report that this film is not terrible. It isn’t great, but for a Sandler comedy, this is notably good. In fact, in many ways, Hubie Halloween feels like a throwback to the 1990s heyday of Adam Sandler, and it is certainly the most effort he has put into one of his Netflix projects.
The film is set in Salem, Massachusetts, the town infamous for the Witch Trials. In this small-town Halloween is, understandably, a huge deal. The town’s largest economic boom of the year comes during this one holiday. So things can obviously get a little out of control with the celebrations. But the townsfolk don’t have to fret, as a local man takes the responsibility of policing the candy-filled night, whether they want him to or not.
People can’t stand him anyway. They don’t even take Hubie seriously when townsfolk start vanishing on Halloween, right after news breaks that a dangerous German mental patient named Hartmann (Rob Schneider) has broken out of a nearby asylum. The only people who give Hubie the time of day are his secret longtime crush, Violet Valentine (Julie Bowen), a good-hearted and beautiful divorcée fond of adopting orphans; his soft-spoken, new next-door neighbor Mr. Lambert (Steve Buscemi), who gives off every indication that he might be a werewolf; and his mom (June Squibb), who keeps having to remind Hubie to fight back against the bullies that continue to torment him. And because this is a Sandler film, the writer-star is not above mining plenty of humor out of Hubie’s many humiliations: The fact that the character scares easily means that Halloween becomes a minefield for him, and the sight of Hubie screaming in terror at the smallest things has its own special charm.
Sandler and director Steven Brill are not comedy perfectionists, but this movie is still surprisingly good. Unlike the 2010s Sandler comedies, it’s rarely lazy – while a lot of the material is tired and true, and the main plot is rather weak, the film’s jokes always manage to land. Some high points include a fun bit with every girl and woman in town dressed as Harley Quinn, a recurring reference to the “Karen” Internet meme, with Melissa Villaseñor playing a constantly-complaining Karen, and a weird but fun reference to Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing with Shaquille O’Neal as an all-knowing radio host who serves as a messenger to the townspeople and the audience, echoing Samuel L. Jackson’s Mr. Señor Love Daddy from Spike Lee’s film. The soundtrack is fantastic, common for Sandler-produced films, featuring a mix of overplayed Halloween essentials like “Thriller” with some forgotten bangers like Whodini’s “Freaks Come Out at Night” and the Beach Boys’ cover of the “Monster Mash.” There’s almost too much, but it’s not entirely a problem. There’s even a subplot with Violet’s teenage son (Noah Schnapp) and his crush on the literal girl-next-door, which provides a refreshing detour from the main plot without being too dissimilar and showcases how wholesome Sandler’s movies have the potential of being.
Despite this, there’s still a lot to be said for a movie that understands the inherent hilarity of Ray Liotta nonchalantly wearing a clown suit, or the spectacle of Tim Meadows trying to arouse Maya Rudolph by gently licking the pudgy, rubbery fingers of a fake hand covered in chocolate, or even the simple joy of Kenan Thompson’s absurd facial expressions. None of this is particularly original, but nobody said you had to be original to make people laugh. Sandler’s generosity as a producer has often resulted in vast stretches of nothingness in his films, as we were forced to watch him and his co-stars cash their checks while putting in minimum effort, in films like Grown Ups 2, but in Hubie Halloween, that willingness from Sandler to let his supporting cast have the spotlight leads to many hysterical moments. Even the obligatory Shaq cameo works this time around.
And believe it or not, the movie has a message – at least as much of a message that any movie Rob Schneider plays an ethnic stereotype in (hey, at least he’s a white guy this time around) can have. Sandler’s characters in previous films often have to be reminded that their broken lives had value, but the situation is reversed this time around. Hubie doesn’t need to be redeemed, but his many tormentors do, and Hubie Halloween somehow works its way toward a denouement that warns against the dangers of allowing yourself to be consumed by hate and stooping to, or escalating beyond, the level of others’ cruelty. That’s not a complex, or new, or even bold idea. But it feels right for the times we’re in. And somehow, delivered via the bizarre antics of Adam Sandler, who was once one of our most wonderfully corrosive comic personas, it has a certain power.
Overall, Hubie Halloween is a decent watch for a lighthearted comedy for the season. Audiences exasperated with Sandler’s usual over the top shenanigans can definitely give this a try since it’s honestly not as bad – it’s even downright funny in a lot of ways.
3/5 STARS