Film Review: “Hubie Halloween”

Audiences may have forgotten Adam Sandler from the earlier days of his career. Remember his early portrayals of simpleminded, kindhearted roles in Big Daddy, Billy Madison, Happy Gilmore and more? Well, his new Halloween-themed comedy, Hubie Halloween, recalls his comic roles of the 90s. Streaming on Netflix now, this lighthearted and perfectly innocent 90 minutes is perfect for a combo night of spooky and enjoyable. Sure, Hereditary is always a winner this October, but if you’re tired of schoolwork, and terrified of some R-rated jumps, this is the watch for you. Despite the outdated feel, and lack of feasible character development, Sandler and his crew are clearly having a blast in the best Happy Madison production I’ve seen ever. That may not be a high bar to hit, considering the clumsy Paul Blart movies, but it sure is an improvement. Fans of Sandler’s performances in Uncut Gems or Punch Drunk Love, however, may see this as a regress in his career.

As mentioned earlier, Hubie is a complete callback to the simpletons he played decades ago. He’s the loser of a town called Salem, and the self-appointed monitor of it during spooky season. Of course, the kids bully him to death, and he can’t seem to stand up for himself. Feels familiar, huh? Almost everyone looks down and pities him, but Violet Valentine, the most popular girl in high school 30 something years ago is fond of his kind personality. On the scariest night of the year, however, Hubie’s expertise in detective-work will come in handy following a meet-up with his strange new neighbor, Mr. Lambert. News then spreads around that Richie Hartman has escaped from his mental institution. Cough, Michael Myers, cough. After a series of kidnappings and strange noises coming from Lambert’s home, Hubie must find the culprit, while keeping Violet’s kids from harm.

If audiences are ready to dismiss the plot and turn their brains completely off, Hubie Halloween is basically a masterpiece in comedy. The gags are constantly hilarious, and the slew of glorified celebrity cameos make for a breezily enjoyable time. We get appearances from Maya Rudolph, Rob Schneider, Kevin James, and even Ben Stiller for just a minute, and it’s glorious. With everything people are going through in 2020, what’s stopping us from watching a free Sandler movie? Family-friendly, and taut, this is the ultimate break from Jason Vorhees and Michael Myers, from Leatherface and Paemon, and it exceeds in doing so. I laughed at nearly all the pratfalls, especially a few stand-out moments where Hubie is told the word boner means mistake by his clueless mother, and lectures a bunch of teens on the many “boners” he made back in the day. Oh, Mr. Sandler, how you make us laugh.

Otherwise, you can nitpick this thing to the grave by critic-sizing its thin script, lack of truly compelling characters, or occasional cheap laughs. Or, you can choose to get completely wasted on candy corn, and spend 1 hour, 30 minutes of your life watching all the glory in witnessing Sandler’s nostalgic performance. Kids’ll absolutely love it, and adults will be charmed by its blatant silliness, proudly dated feel, and be reminded of their childhood watching Billy Madison redo grade school as a young man. It’s completely your choice, but a smart warning would be to not go into this as a critic, but go into it as a movie fan. As an audience member, if you’re tired of Sandler and his familiarity, this won’t work, but otherwise, just ignore the stupidity and soak in the entertainment value.

The final opinion is: Hubie Halloween can be teared piece by piece for its intentional dumbness, but Sandler and Co. prove to his large fanbase that he still knows how to make people laugh…$TREAM IT

Rated: PG-13 (Brief Teen Partying|Language|Crude and Suggestive Content)

Genre: Comedy

Runtime: 1 hour 43 minutes

Directed By: Steven Brill