Jack and Jill

The tragicomedy How Life Plays featured Adam Sandler as a successful comedy actor who had just enjoyed his greatest successes with very cheap comedies featuring him as a baby or a fish-tailed merman - and wasn't exactly proud of it. It's kind of sad that Sandler, who has proven time and time again that he can do more than just star in raunchy duds, now seems to have reached the nadir of his career with just such a film.

In Jack and Jill, Sandler plays advertising executive Jack Sadelstein, who is less than pleased that his annoying twin sister Jill (also Sandler) wants to visit him and his family for Thanksgiving. But what is planned as a short visit soon turns out to be a longer horror trip that threatens to drag on into the new year. With her special requests and her enormous hunger for attention, Jill drives her brother crazy more than once. Especially as he is busy solving the impossible task of persuading Oscar winner Al Pacino to appear in a commercial for a fast food chain's new coffee. At a basketball game, Jack wants to engage the star in conversation and persuade him to do the commercial. But then the unbelievable happens: Pacino recognizes his soul mate in Jill, of all people. And now Jack has a real chance: if he can get Jill to go out with Al Pacino, he will star in the commercial. But unfortunately, perennially single Jill is so not attracted to the actor.

No question, Jack and Jill has some very funny scenes. The way Oscar winner Al Pacino takes the piss out of himself here is just too delicious. One scene in particular, where he has a heated phone conversation with Jack while he's actually on stage and suddenly goes into Der Pate mode, is almost great. There are flashes of such accomplished wit here and there, even in those moments when Pacino isn't on screen. But just when you as a viewer feel that the film might be really funny after all, the next diarrhea scene follows, the next flat gag that is likely to produce only a weary smile even from loyal Sandler fans.

Jill not only annoys her brother, but also the audience. There is really nothing sympathetic about this character and it is absolutely incomprehensible why Jack's wife stands up for her so much. The sad thing is, that there is a potential for a funny family comedy. But Sandler and his perennial director Dennis Dugan (Child's Head) give away almost every opportunity for good gags in favor of inane or unsavory quips that are hard to beat for infantility.

What ends up being really annoying, however, is that this film once again hides behind its crude facade an unbearably moralistic message about the value of family, which is hammered into the audience with full force, especially towards the end. At first, the characters are completely given over to ridicule and the audience is supposed to laugh at all their shortcomings. But then we are all supposed to embrace and love each other, because family is the most important and beautiful thing in the world. This is actually hard to beat in terms of mendacity.

Surely, Adam Sandler doesn't make his movies for the critics, but for his fans, who especially want to see him in roles like this. And yes, those who like the actor's more crude films will again get their money's worth. But even the most loyal Sandler fans have to admit that Jack and Jill is one of the star's weakest and least funny films and that the double portion of Sandler is really hard to digest. Therefore, if you want to see a good comedy, you should keep your hands off this film. But who loves the typical handwriting of the team Adam Sandler/Dennis Dugan, which will find here again some good laughs

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp