Parents' Guide to

Adam Sandler's Eight Crazy Nights

By Nell Minow, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 14+

Lame attempt at holiday humor with lots of iffy behavior.

Movie PG-13 2002 71 minutes
Adam Sandler's Eight Crazy Nights Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

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age 12+

Based on 15 parent reviews

Lebron12James3
Lebron12James3 Parent
February 25, 2022
age 2+

Somebody once told me the world is gonna roll me I ain't the sharpest tool in the shed She was looking kind of dumb with her finger and her thumb In the shape of an "L" on her forehead Well the years start coming and they don't stop coming Fed to the rules and I hit the ground running Didn't make sense not to live for fun Your brain gets smart but your head gets dumb So much to do, so much to see So what's wrong with taking the back streets? You'll never know if you don't go You'll never shine if you don't glow Hey now, you're an all-star, get your game on, go play Hey now, you're a rock star, get the show on, get paid And all that glitters is gold Only shooting stars break the mold It's a cool place and they say it gets colder You're bundled up now, wait 'til you get older But the meteor men beg to differ Judging by the hole in the satellite picture The ice we skate is getting pretty thin The water's getting warm so you might as well swim My world's on fire, how about yours? That's the way I like it and I'll

5 people found this helpful.
Sophiaryle
Sophiaryle Parent of 8 and 11-year-old
November 18, 2022
age 10+

Dirty jokes but nothing compared to movies pushed today...

We love this movie. I have an 8 and 11 year old and we watch this every year. There is some lewd jokes and a woman with three breasts, innuendos and so on.. but it beats the stuff theyre pushing on kids today. The inappropriate but hilarious jokes go over my kids heads and the story line is great.
1 person found this helpful.
See all 15 parent reviews

What's the Story?

Thirty-three-year-old Davey Stone (Adam Sandler) is an angry drunk living alone and hating the community, the holidays, and himself. When his destructive behavior lands him in front of a judge who gives him a jail sentence, Whitey Duvall (also Adam Sandler), the endlessly good-hearted youth basketball coach, intervenes to help Davey find his inner adult. Through flashbacks, Davey at 12 years old (Adam Uhler) is revealed to be a sweet and thoughtful kid with loving parents, a best friend/girlfriend, Jennifer, and a talent for basketball. It was his inability to come to terms with the loss of his parents that took Davey down the path to becoming the heavy-drinking town miscreant. Whitey's attempts to put Davey on the straight-and-narrow path are aided by Eleanor Duvall (also Adam Sandler), Whitey's twin sister, and the reappearance of Jennifer (Jackie Titone).

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (15):
Kids say (36):

EIGHT CRAZY NIGHTS is a bit of an enigma. In the Venn diagram of movie-goers, Adam Sandler fans are not an easy overlap with those who cherish holiday musicals. This lame attempt at comedy is more likely to appeal to the former than the latter. Unleashed by the medium of animation, Sandler's raging little-boy humor takes on an aura of threatening menace, tempered only by Davey's 11th-hour revelation, which does little to heal the wounds inflicted along the way. Unlike his personas in The Waterboy, Little Nicky, Happy Gilmore, or numerous Saturday Night Live skits, Davey -- Adam Sandler's proxy -- is seldom the object of the comical abuse, but it's instead the diminutive and furry Whitey who is the town's whipping boy. Though Davey's equal-opportunity hatred is (somewhat) explained, the treatment of the physically challenged Duvall twins by the town rings of a darker, crueler humor.

Families looking for something to watch together should steer clear, unless appreciation of outhouse humor is a family tradition. Clearly, this movie, with its taunting mockery of the physically challenged, its very graphic potty jokes, and its drunken binges also is not for animation fans seeking Disney's sweet concoctions or Pixar's wry wit. Older teens looking for the extreme edge of South Park will not be appeased by the suburban softness of fart jokes. All of this probably narrows the circle of appreciative audience members to those who want to see a feature-length movie along the lines of skits from Spike & Mike's Sick & Twisted Festival of Animation.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the appeal of gross-out humor. Do you think it's funny? Why, or why not?

  • On the surface, this is a "holiday-themed" movie, right down to the animation. How is this different from most traditional holiday-themed movies?

  • Who is the intended audience here? How can you tell?

Movie Details

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