Grown Ups Parent Guide
Even the feel good moments won't dispel the impression that while these adults may be getting older, they are anything but grown up.
Parent Movie Review
Lenny Fender (Adam Sandler) appears to have the perfect life. The high-powered Hollywood agent has a beautiful, fashion designer wife (Salma Hayek), three children (Jake Goldberg, Cameron Boyce, Alexys Nycole Sanchez) and enough money to keep him comfortable for a long time. Yet the wealthy businessman worries his success is having a negative impact on his children who spend hours playing violent video games and would rather text their nanny (Di Ouon) than get off the couch to help themselves. Watching their spoiled antics, Lenny longs to give his kids a taste of the simple pleasures he enjoyed as a child.
The opportunity to do so arises when Lenny receives a phone call about the death of his former basketball coach (Blake Clark). Postponing their trip to Milan, Lenny and his clan meet up with his old teammates Eric (Kevin James), Kurt (Chris Rock), Marcus (David Spade) and Rob (Rob Schneider) and their families for their coach’s funeral. Then they plan to follow it up with a Forth of July weekend at a lakeside cabin.
Though the former friends have all aged since their 1970s championship basketball season, they haven’t necessarily matured. Their juvenile sexual banter, name-calling and trash talk start even before they are seated for the funeral service. As old rivalries resurface they revert to childish behaviors and engage in the same silly dares they played as adolescents. Their locker room mentality also results in frequent sexual innuendo that includes the depiction of male rear nudity and the ongoing ogling of the opposite gender. Breastfeeding, bikinis and car problems are also played for humor, along with a relationship between Rob and his much older wife (Joyce Van Patten).
The script, if there is one, loosely connects a parade of short, stand-up comedy-like vignettes that this troupe of entertainers pulls off with ease, given their combined experience on the stage. While the pacing is often good, the crudity and predictability of the jokes along with an overdose of drunkenness, slapstick violence (groin kicks, hitting, injury-causing dares) and bathroom humor overwhelm what could have been an insightful look at childhood in a technological world.
Reprising his “aw shucks” nice guy role from films like Bedtime Stories, 50 First Dates and Mr. Deeds, Adam Sandler once again wraps up this story with a warm and sappy happy ending. Rising above the pettiness of competition, he teaches his teammates and children a valuable lesson about winning and losing. (One that is spelled out for audience members who may have missed it.) But even the feel good moments won’t dispel the impression that while these adults may be getting older, they are anything but grown up.
Directed by Dennis Dugan. Starring Adam Sandler, Salma Hayek, Kevin James, Chris Rock, Rob Schneider, David Spade. Running time: 103 minutes. Theatrical release June 25, 2010. Updated July 17, 2017About author
Grown Ups
Rating & Content Info
Why is Grown Ups rated PG-13? Grown Ups is rated PG-13 by the MPAA for crude material including suggestive references, language and some male rear nudity.
Violence: Children play violent video games that involve shooting and drowning. Men repeatedly slap one another with their bare hands or other objects, including frozen food. Characters engage in injury-causing dares. One man crashes into a building. Two men are shot in the foot with an arrow. A man collides with a tree and crushes a bird. A man is repeatedly kicked in the groin. Married couples argue. Characters are burned by a hot rock. Characters trip, fall and run into objects. A woman hits a boy with a rock.
Sexual Content: The script contains frequent sexual innuendos, crude references to sexual activity, crass humor dealing with breastfeeding and brief jokes about bestiality and homosexual sex. Male buttock nudity is seen. A couple engages in a crude public display of affection. Frequent comments are made about female anatomy. Characters wear bikinis and other revealing swimwear. A woman breastfeeds a 4-year-old child in public. A character is sprayed in the face with breast milk. Married women flirt with a younger man. A man rubs a woman’s chest in public.
Language: The script contains a crude term for sex and other crass terms for sexual activity and anatomy. Rude name-calling, profanities and terms of Deity are also used.
Drugs and Alcohol Use: A man is portrayed as drunk on several occasions. Characters frequently drink at home and at public events.
Other: A man urinates on another character as well as in a public swimming pool. Jokes are made about flatulence. A woman feeds breast milk to a bird.
Page last updated July 17, 2017
Grown Ups Parents' Guide
Why is Lenny concerned about his children’s behaviors? Why do his kids have less opportunity to participate in outdoor or unscheduled activities than he did?
In what behaviors do these characters still resemble their junior high selves? Are there ways that they have matured?
Home Video
The most recent home video release of Grown Ups movie is November 9, 2010. Here are some details…
Grown Ups releases to DVD and Blu-ray on November 9, 2010. Both formats offer:
- Bloopers
- Gag Reel: Laughing is Contagious
- Featurette: The Cast of Grown Ups
Grown Ups on Blu-ray also include:
- Deleted Scenes
- Blooper Reel; Riff-O-Rama
- Commentary with Director Dennis Dugan
-Featurettes: Dennis Dugan: Hands on Director, The Lost Tapes of Norm MacDonald and Busey and the Monkey.
-movieIQ+sync and BD-Live
Grown Up Exclusive Blu-ray Combo Pack features:
- All the material in the Blu-ray and DVD editions plus:
- An extra DVD with the full feature film
- Digital Copy of the film for download to a PC, PSP®, Mac or iPod
Related home video titles:
The actors playing the five lead characters have starred in many comedies, most of which are not family friendly. Here are some roles they have played in movies you could share with your children:
Adam Sandler in Bedtime Stories
Kevin James in Hitch
Chris Rock as the voice of Marty in Madagascar
Rob Schneider as a TV producer in Muppets From Space
David Spade as the voice of Kuzco in The Emperor’s New Groove