Grown Ups 2 (2013) Review

0.5/5

This movie is full of funny people, has a director who has made funny films, and a potentially funny premise. The talent involved is crazy good, but nobody is applied very much at all. There is an audience out there for this, and they will love it. There was just too much fart, vomit, pee, poop, burping, and sneezing humor for me. I don't think that bodily functions by themselves are funny; accompanied with a joke, perhaps, but an endless machine gun barrage of "burp snarts" is not my cup of tea. I think that the film will make money, and that fans of the first will appreciate it. I did like the first because it felt new, but here it feels as though they are going through the motions just for the hell of it.
The .5 of the grade given is due to the fact that it looks like they had so much fun to make this film and its hard not to respect that and admire it. These people have made storied careers for themselves and here they got together to make more money and have more fun on top of a film they already made money and had fun on. It's a joy to watch these actors on screen together just for the fact they are together, but I wish they had been used in a way that showcased their very real and very strong talent. I really wish they had.
There are worse things out there than Grown Ups 2. It is not a cinematic adventure and I didn't find it particularly funny, nor did I become invested in or amused with the story. It isn't the worst film I've ever seen, but it is disappointing to a degree of no return. Here's hoping the people involved go back to making true comedy which they are all more than capable of and have done before.