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30/03/25: "Dying was their first mistake"

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  The Do-Over (2016): "Charlie McMillan (David Spade) is a loser who bumps into his old, cooler friend Max Kessler (Sandler) ... Stuck in a rut ... Kessler ... convinces McMillan to come hang out on his yacht one weekend ... He blows up the boat, enabling the two to fake their own death. Won’t authorities look for bodies? They will but, as it turns out, Kessler doesn’t work for the FBI – he is a coroner, and had access to two age-appropriate corpses that no one will miss ... In a second-act reveal it’s discovered that our two doofuses have stumbled into an enormous corporate conspiracy to repress a miracle cancer drug. No amount of shouting “do over!” at the screen can turn the plot around, as it suddenly becomes a quasi-serious thriller to save mankind. With Sandler and Spade. On a direct-to-Netflix budget." (Jordan Hoffman, The Guardian) GIVE ME THE FACTS! Starring:  Amy Schumer, Adam Sandler, David Spade, Paula Patton, Kathryn Hahn, Nick Swardson, Catherine Bell, Jackie S...
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06/02/25: "Lying like a mother"

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  Kinda Pregnant (2025): "Lainy, an uncensored and increasingly unhinged Brooklyn schoolteacher ... long been desperate to start a family. In her early 40s and four years deep in a relationship ... she learns her forever best friend Kate is pregnant ...  Besieged by jealousy ...  Lainy entertains a flight of fancy: what if she just pretended she was pregnant with a fake bump? ... Schumer’s style – force and exaggeration, pushing boundaries to sometimes hilarious ends – may have reached its limit."   ( Adrian Horton, The Guardian) GIVE ME THE FACTS! Starring:  Amy Schumer, Jillian Bell, Will Forte, Brianne Howey, Lizze Broadway, Damon Wayans Jr, Urzila Carlson Directed by: Tyler Spindel UK release date:  February 5th 2025 Trivia tidbit:  "The movie is clearly a Happy Madison production because Adam Sandler's wife, daughter, and brother-in-law are in the film. " Rich's rating:  3 out of 5 SHOW ME THE TRAILER!
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27/01/25: "Game on ... it's time to save the world"

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Pixels (2015): "Misinterpreting footage of ’80s arcade games as a threat, aliens unleash Pac-Man, Donkey Kong et al on Earth ... There’s a certain thrill to seeing humans face off against Frogger. If only as much care had been put into the living characters as the pixelated ones."   ( Wiĺiam Thomas, Empire) GIVE ME THE FACTS! Starring:  Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Josh Gad, Michelle Monaghan, Peter Dinklage Directed by:  Chris Columbus UK release date:  August 12th 2015 Trivia tidbit:  "The female lead is named Violet Van Patten. This is a trademark of Adam Sandler where the first and/or last name of his character's girlfriend starts with "V": Virginia Venit in Happy Gilmore (1996), Veronica Vaughn in Billy Madison (1995), Vicki Vallencourt in The Waterboy (1998), Valerie Veran in Little Nicky (2000), and Vanessa in Big Daddy (1999)." Rich's rating:  3 out of 5 SHOW ME THE TRAILER!
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Prologue: "Forget your troubles, c'mon get happy"

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 Always on the hunt for some form of themed movie nights, I was at a loose end following the culmination of the 2024/25 NFL season. I found myself on the look out for films that (a) I could easily slot into a schedule, (b) I knew that I would enjoy and (c) I could easily obtain. As someone who constantly revisits the works of Adam Sandler (despite the bad reviews, I have never looked down on them as many others do), it made sense to dedicate a weekly night to Happy Madison, Sandler's production company. Upon further thought, this choice proved even more apt given that 2025 sees the release of two brand new movies to Netflix in the form of the Amy Schumer vehicle "Kinda Pregnant" and the hotly anticipated sequel to "Happy Gilmore", set to land in February and July respectively.  So in the absence of NFL and the need for a comedic tonic to end my weekends, may I introduce "Happy Madi-Sundays". 53 movies in total including 6 double bills to make it work. ...
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