Jack and Jill (2011)

Directed by: Dennis Dugan
Starring: Adam Sandler, Katie Holmes, Al Pacino

Jack Sadelstein (Adam Sandler) is a successful ad executive living in Los Angles with his with wife, Erin (Katie Holmes) and two kids. Jack's twin sister, Jill (also Sandler) comes to visit for Thanksgiving and turns Jack's life upside down. Cue Al Pacino into the plot: Jack must try and get Pacino to do a Dunkin Donuts commercial, or he will be out of business. The plot thickens when Pacino develops feelings for Jill after they meet at a L.A. Lakers game.

Ninety one minutes- that's how much of my life was wasted on watching this train-wreck of a film. I have long been a fan of Adam Sandler, but his "Happy-Madison" production of comedy has been played out since Bobby Boucher quit being The Waterboy. The most painful thing to watch in this film is Sandler dressed in drag and trying to play the part of Jill. His nasally, high-pitched voice that he uses for the character of Jill is the same voice that he used for the "come to mama" routine during his stand-up and Saturday Night Live days, and it gets really annoying from the get-go. With enough ad placement to choke a horse, it's obvious that Sandler got paid well for this film that had an 80 million dollar price tag on it. I guess the almighty dollar has a way of overriding any sense of artistic or comedic value.

This film also begs the question on weather or not Al Pacino has officially lost his mind. A serious, award winning actor to his caliber has no business in a film like this. Pacino's accomplishments in film far outweigh this one bad decision, so he can easily recover from this disaster. Sandler, who will never have to worry about money in his life, should start to worry if people will ever take him seriously as an actor. Sandler does in fact have the talent to be a dramatic actor...he has proven it with such films like Punch-Drunk Love (2002) and Reign Over Me (2007.) Why he has decided to stick with the style of humor in this film is beyond me.  After starring in Funny People (2009) (which was very much a tribute to the middle-aged comic) I had hoped that Sandler would be done with doing the gross-out comedy of his yesteryears.


Adam Sandler has made millions of dollars on his brand of comedy, and he has brought a lot of laughter along the way. There was a time when his films made people laugh; however, the time has now come for Sandler to ditch the "Happy-Madison" routine because audiences just aren't buying it anymore.