For a scant idea involving a potpourri of SNL alums, Grown Ups is a lot funnier than it should be. The blanche direction by Dennis Dugan (Big Daddy, Happy Gilmore) and touch-and-go shtick (bad-ass bunions and Chris Rock as a househusband) are detractions; worse yet, the movie, which was shot here, reduces Woodman’s (the revered clam shack in Essex) to a mere burger joint.
As for the (loose) nuts and bolts: five elementary-school chums are reunited in their quaint New England home town to inter their former basketball coach and mentor. The most successful, Hollywood bigwig Lenny (Adam Sandler, who wrote as well here), rents out a lake house for the occasion.
Puerile adult humor ensues, and Rob Schneider takes one for the team as a toupee-sporting beatnik with a thing for older women — the current one is a St. Pauli granny girl. At least there’s the lovely Salma Hayek and Maria Bello to give the cockamamie proceedings some grown-up elegance.
