No ordinary ‘Bedtime’ fantasies
“Bedtime Stories” is clean enough to fly the Walt Disney Pictures flag, yet it’s full of bimbos and cleavage and shots of Adam Sandler getting kicked in the shins by a dwarf. In between little-person attacks, our Everyman character suffers the merciless insults of his social betters.
Hostility and pathos make for a very popular combination in comedy. It worked for Chaplin, and it works for Sandler, who might not be the new Chaplin but who has his own proven Midas touch.
The premise recalls a Jerry Lewis vehicle from the early ‘60s. Sandler plays Skeeter, an L.A. hotel handyman under the thumb of a germaphobe owner (Richard Griffiths) and a weasel of a manager (Guy Pearce) who is dating the boss’ Paris Hilton-esque daughter (Teresa Palmer) while stepping out with a fellow hotel employee (Lucy Lawless, unrecognizable from her “Xena” days).
Skeeter and his sister (Courteney Cox) grew up in a motel bungalow court, before their father (Jonathan Pryce, the narrator), who owned the place, sold out to the Griffiths character. Years later, the handyman longs for a crack at running the hotel built on the old bungalow court’s site. Now the ruthless owners plan to raze the elementary school where Skeeter’s sister works as principal.
While Sis is away, Skeeter must baby-sit his niece and nephew. The adventure stories Skeeter spins for his initially skeptical charges -- featuring knights in shining armor, Old West cowboys, “Star Wars”-type derring-do heroes -- surprisingly start to foreshadow real-life future events. As directed by Adam Shankman, who fared very nicely with the musical “Hairspray,” the film’s fantasy vignettes offer a few laughs, though they never dominate the movie the way they should.
The idea is that the stories, where anything can happen, somehow manage to improve Skeeter’s real life, which has been clouded with disappointment. It’s an adequate idea, dutifully delivered, and “Bedtime Stories” is precisely the sort of thing big stars get interested in after they become parents and want their offspring to talk about something other than Dad ogling Jessica Biel’s buttocks in “I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry.”
--
--
‘Bedtime Stories’
MPAA rating: PG for some mild rude humor and mild language
Running time: 1 hour, 35 minutes
Playing: In general release
Only good movies
Get the Indie Focus newsletter, Mark Olsen's weekly guide to the world of cinema.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
