Adam Sandler can turn anything into a joke. Whether
you laugh at the former “Saturday Night Live” comic’s degenerate sense of humor
is an entirely different matter. Typically, juvenile delinquent fantasies fuel Sandler’s
gross out antics. “Sex Drive” director Sean Anders and “Happy Endings”
television series scribe David Caspe have ramped up Sandler’s impudent humor
far beyond anything the lowbrow comedian has attempted. “That’s My Boy” (***
out of ****) casts Sandler as a shrill, low-life, irresponsible,
adult-adolescent who neglected to mature. Imagine the protagonists of
either “Billy Madison” or “The Waterboy” as unrepentant hemorrhoids, and you’ll
have a good idea what to expect from “That’s My Boy.” Actually, from premise
to performance, “That’s My Boy” qualifies as Sandler at his raunchiest. At the same time, “That’s My Boy” may challenge even the
staunchest Sandler’s fans. Mind you, we’re not talking the caliber of crude and
rude that Sasha Baron Cohen doled out in either “Borat” or “Bruno.” Nothing
aberrant like the thoroughly unwholesome “Hangover 2,” however, happens in
“That’s My Boy.” Nevertheless, Sandler hasn’t made anything this
tastelessly hilarious since either “Big Daddy” or “Little Nicky.”
Most Sandler characters, such as Billy Madison, Robert
'Bobby' Boucher Jr., from “The Waterboy,” Happy Gilmore, and Sonny Koufax in
“Big Daddy,” emerge as saints compared with Donny Berger. Before his
second-to-last movie, Sandler had shown signs of mellowing. He made
movies about middle-aged guys and their families, such as “Grown Ups” and “Just
Go with It.” Earlier, he appeared in two genuinely memorable films:
“Funny People” and “Punch-Drunk Love.” Admittedly, Sandler’s last movie “Jack
and Jill” dredged the bottom of the barrel. “Jack and Jill” amounted to a
cretinous comedy about identical twin siblings. Sandler dressed up in drag when
he wasn’t playing it straight. Nonetheless, he played a middle-aged
father with a middle of the road family. Happily, no matter how egregiously awful “That’s
My Boy” is, “That’s My Boy” is still ten times better than “Jack and Jill.”
The premise of “That’s My Boy” is audacious. This lightweight
sex abuse comedy unfolds in the Boston suburb of Somerville in 1984.
Thirteen year old Donny Berger (Justin Weaver) lands in detention. He made the
mistake of asking his ultra-hot looking, nymphomaniac math teacher, Mary
McGarricle (Eva Amurri Martino of “The Banger Sisters”), out for a date in
front of his two friends. What he encounters in detention is nothing like “The
Breakfast Club.” Donny’s teacher takes him into a backroom and rapes him
without a qualm. Indeed, she teachers
him how to satisfy her sexual urges. Of
course, “That’s My Boy” refrains from depicting sexual relations between an
older woman and an underage child. Later, during a middle-school function in
the auditorium, Donny and his naked teacher are caught in the act on
stage. She flees in humiliation with a flag wrapped around her body, while
Donny enjoys a standing ovation from both students and faculty. Never has the
double standard in sexual relations been more skewered. A sign in the
auditorium heralds Donny’s makeover from nobody to somebody: "Some have
greatness thrust upon them." Never has statutory rape been celebrated in
such a cynical manner. Donny emerges as a tabloid celebrity, while his teacher
winds up pulling a 30 year stretch in the Massachusetts Women’s Prison.
Worse, not only has Donny gotten Miss McGarricle pregnant with a son, but also
McGarricle admits no shame in their liaison.
For the record, director Sean Anders, scenarist David Caspe,
and Sandler have drawn their comedy from the infamous Mary Kay Letourneau case
in 1997. Mary Kay was a married school teacher who seduced one of her
13-year-old students, Vili Fualaau, in Des Moines, Washington.
Eventually, she had two daughters from their illicit romance. Difficult
as it is to fathom, the people who produced “That’s My Boy” have displayed a
modicum of discretion in their depiction of Mary Kay and Vili’s notorious
romance. In real life, Vili claims he never felt like he was a victim of
sex abuse. Later, after Mary Kay left prison, Vili married her and wrote
a book about their shenanigans. Some of this transpires in “That’s My
Boy.” Similarly, Donny and his teacher have little boy, but Donny turns
out to be the worst parent imaginable.
In an expository dialogue scene between Donny (Adam Sandler)
and his grown-up son Todd (Adam Samberg of “Hot Rod”), we learn about Donny’s
shortcomings as a daddy. Initially, Donny named his son Han Solo after
Harrison Ford’s “Star Wars” hero. Not only does Todd scold his father for
this ridiculous moniker, but also for pandering to his sweet t00th so he packed on hundreds of pounds
and contracted diabetes. Donny turned his 8-year old son into an obese
urchin and exploited him as a designated driver when he was too drunk to drive.
Once he was old enough to disown his dad, Todd changed his name, claimed his
parents had died in an explosion, and became a profitable businessman as a
hedge fund manager. Todd is poised to marry his sweetheart, a wealthy
heiress, Jamie (Leighton Meester of “Date Night”), and live happily ever
after. Forty-year old Donny learns about his son’s wedding in Cape Cod
and crashes it. Things haven’t been too good for Donny. The I.R.S
demands $43-thousand for delinquent taxes or they will put him in prison.
A reality TV show producer promises Donny the dough if he can persuade Todd to
appear alongside him on camera at the woman’s prison where his mom is
incarcerated.
“That’s My Boy” concerns reconciliation as much as
dysfunctional families. Donny ranks as Adam Sandler’s least sympathetic, most
outrageous, but best role to date. At times, he looks like a
cross-between of Al Pacino and Paul McCartney in 1980s garb. The running
joke is everybody adores Donny except Todd. Donny struggles for the better part of “That’s
My Boy” to win back Todd’s love and respect. Most of the action takes
place at Cape Cod where Todd’s future boss, financial guru Steve Spirou (Tony
Orlando), has planned their wedding. About a third of the action occurs in
a strip joint that serves breakfast. Tony Orlando is not the only leftover from
the 1980s. White rapper Vanilla Ice appears in an extended cameo as one
of Donny’s friends, while James Caan wears the collar as a pugnacious man of
the cloth. This politically incorrect, 116-minute farce received an
R-rating for pervasive vulgarity, sexual humor, nudity, drug use, and some
comic violence. Most of “That’s My Boy” will either make you grimace in
disbelief or laugh without restraint.
