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| Why did I do this? |
Directed by: Dennis Dugan
Produced by: Adam Sandler, Jack Giarraputo, Todd Garner
Written by: Ben Zook (story), Adam Sandler, Steve Koren (screenplay)
Budget: $79,000,000
Starring: Adam Sandler, Adam Sandler, Al Pacino, Katie Holmes
Jack (Sandler) is a successful advertising executive attempting to land the big client for a major account. When his twin sister, Jill (Sandler) visits for Thanksgiving, her wacky demeanor and larger-than-life personality promise a holiday filled with humor, sass, and maybe just a little lesson about what family is all about.
I shouldn't have to say this, but you shouldn't watch Jack and Jill.
Sandler's 2011 film has a reputation as a piece of garbage, and for good reason. This movie doesn't so much come together as stumble from one product placement to the next, cut in between with crude attempts by Sandler to get some laughs out of bodily functions, racism, or Sandler screeching in bad drag.
The movie starts with a series of interviews given by pairs of real-life twins (all played by actual twins, so there's that) who talk about how being biological copy-pastes of each other have affected their lives. These are at least interesting to listen to, and it seems pretty obvious that the movie is going to use it as a bookend, with the last one probably being Jack and Jill giving an account of how being twins made them love each other. Spoilers: Jack and Jill have a single shot at the end, and no dialogue. I guess Sandler couldn't get enough in the budget to earn that last line.
The cast members in this movie couldn't put any less effort into their performances. Sandler plays an everyman, as he likes to do, across from himself as a screeching brick of a woman who doesn't seem to actually have any redeemable qualities. His Jill voice reminds me of Gilbert Gottfried without the self-aware charm, and all of his lines feel like he didn't actually write anything for himself just improvised everything in one take.
The supporting cast is just as bad. Katie Holmes doesn't actually do anything except constantly remind Jack that Jill is his sister and he should be nice. The two child actors are...standard child actors, though they're on the bottom half of acceptable. Nick Swardson is awful, but I haven't ever seen him in anything where he isn't, so that wasn't so big a surprise as his continued career. Finally, throughout there are numerous cameos and minor roles from Sandler's buddies and other celebrities, including Drew Carey, Johnny Depp, Norm Macdonald, Christie Brinkley, and in one of the most unintentionally funny parts of the movie, an angry Jared Fogle.
Al Pacino plays an actual part in the movie as himself, and he does alright. His final lines to Jack as the movie fades to black are about how he needs to burn "it" (meaning the commercial, but more likely the movie itself) to guarantee no one ever sees it. Shaq shows up to lick a loaf of ham (I'm not kidding) and David Spade shows up in drag. The best character is Allen Covert's Otto, playing a homeless man, who seems to know exactly what type of movie he's in.
As far as story goes, there isn't really one. Jill comes to town, makes Jack's life difficult, and in the end they realize that family is cool and they should be nice to one another in that classic sappy Sandler way. There's an arc about Jack trying to land the big Pacino commercial which carries on throughout, but it's so half-heartedly done that it doesn't matter.
One notable thing about the movie is that Jack's job as an advertising executive makes product placement easy. Below is a list of products and companies which appear in the movie, with the bolded names representing ones that play large parts in the plot:
Dunkin Donuts: The big client, with Jack trying to get Al Pacino in a commercial for them. The movie ends with a literal Dunkin Donuts advertisement.
Royal Caribbean Cruise: The family goes on a cruise and the movie stops for about a minute for the captain of the ship to address the camera and elaborate on all of the cruise amenities. I'm not exaggerating, it even looks like it comes with b-roll from a RCC commercial.
Pepto Bismol: We open on a fake Pepto Bismol commercial with Regis Philbin. Sandler and Swardson each take huge gulps from a Pepto Bismol bottle early on.
Craigslist: Used to post a fake Casual Encounters ad for Jill.
Radio Shack
Sony, Sony Vaio
American Airlines (rows and rows of terminal signs)
Hilton Hotels
The Price is Right
Coca Cola (at least four cups in movie theater chair arms, logos facing the camera)
Match.com
eHarmony
Maxim
Budweiser
LA Lakers
The LA Lakers scene is particularly weird, because it seems they couldn't actually get the Lakers. Instead they filmed the dialogue scenes on a small sound stage with some stands and green-screened the actual game behind them and combined it with...just game footage.
In general the Jack/Jill effects are mediocre. The movie looks cheap, both in effects, costumes, and directing. The digital inserting for Sandler is fuzzy-edged, as are the green-screened scenes.
And finally, Jill is simply unlikable as a person. She comes into her brother's life, shoves her way into his work, and doesn't ever seem to develop any self-awareness. There's no moment where the siblings sit down and have an actual conversation about any of it; it's either Sandler shouting at himself or Holmes delivering some sugar-coated, generic family garbage about how siblings need to put up with each other, no matter how dysfunctional they are. In the end Jill finds someone who is willing to enable her behavior, and the family
Do not watch Jack and Jill.
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