Number 12: Going Overboard (1989)
A true story: sitting in a cinema, I saw a trailer for an
upcoming movie about video game characters coming to life and destroying the
world. ‘Oh, that looks like it could be fun’ I thought to myself but then I saw
the film’s star. ‘Oh, Adam Sandler. I’ll give it a miss then.’
That film was Pixels
and by all accounts, I made the right choice.
I’ve said before, a bad movie can have enough going for it
that it can become enjoyable. A bad comedy is always just bad. A bad Adam
Sandler comedy though is an instrument of torture.
I appreciate comedy can be subjective and I know Sandler has
his fans. If his brand of juvenile frat-boy humour is what you like, that’s
fine. Bear this in mind about Going
Overboard though, Adam Sandler removed this from his filmography on his
official website. The guy who made Little
Nicky doesn’t want his fans to know this film exists.
It was Sandler’s first starring role to be fair to so we
probably shouldn’t really expect much from him, which is just as well as he
delivers nothing. One of the first things Sandler does is break the fourth wall
to tell us this is a ‘no budget movie’, you soon find it’s a ‘no laugh movie’
too (if you’re interested to know, IMDB lists the budget for this film as $200,000
which is not a lot in movie terms but a fair-size budget for an independent
feature).
Adam Sandler is a waiter on a cruise ship with dreams of
being a stand-up comedian but he’s not very good. He’s not good by the end of
the film either but what would you expect.
One of the first things I noticed was the credits saying
they were ‘introducing’ actor Burt Young. I remember seeing Burt Young in a
highly successful film franchise that started 13 years earlier, the first film
even won a Best Film Oscar (he was Paulie in the Rocky films). Couldn’t have been him though as he was only being
introduced here.
They’re on a cruise ship travelling to undisclosed location
with some beauty Queen contestants so cue lots of beautiful ladies in bikini’s,
though to the films credit it doesn’t particularly dwell on it apart from one
scene where Sandler is wobbling while delivering drinks. I think the joke is he
has an erection and is trying to hide it or alternatively, he could just be clumsy.
It’s bad joke after bad joke. I’m being generous describing
them as jokes, they’re just sentences. Bad sentence after bad sentence.
Actually, it’s not even fair to call them sentences as they lack the coherency,
so it’s bad syntax after bad syntax.
I look at the clock and realise I’ve been watching 20
minutes. It feels like hours and this film is 97 minutes long. 97, it’s too
long. 5 minutes is too long.
Some other stuff happens with a dickhead ship comedian,
talking heads from the beauty contestants for some reason, terrorists turn up
but tragically don’t throw Adam Sandler into the sea.
Going Overboard is
not a film you watch, rather it is one you endure. My recommendation, like with
any Adam Sandler past, present or indeed future, is avoid. Sandler is obviously very youthful here but lacking any charm or charisma, so to be fair to the man he has improved a little over the years. He's not helped any by poor directing and a script that promises a joke but lacks build up or punchline.
Still, at least there’s no Kevin James.
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