Jack and Jill

Jack and Jill is a movie that has reached a level of notoriety for being bad. Now, granted, this does apply to a lot of Adam Sandler’s films, but this one in particular is considered to be an absolute embarrassment. The entire film runs on the gimmick that Sandler plays both Jack and Jill, which means he is both the male and female leads in the movie, respectively. The plot centers around Jill coming to visit Jack, and as it turns out, Jack doesn’t really like Jill. They squabble the entire movie, some jokes are thrown in, and then Jack understands that Jill is actually a great person, and they all get along. The story is pretty contrived, but that’s alright, because the jokes are what’s important. So…is it funny?

I can only speak for myself, but the intended comedy didn’t really work that well. For example, Jill eats food, and then has to go home for a long fart scene. Now that’s quality. A lot of the movie plays out more or less like that. There’s an attempt at a joke set-up, then they tell the joke (which are rarely funny), and then pad the joke out for run time. All in all, it’s a basic Sandler film. If that’s not something you’d usually care about, you won’t like Jack and Jill.

There’s something strange about films like these for me, though. Even though it’s a total trainwreck, it’s certainly fun to watch. It’s interesting to wonder what happened to all the millions of dollars that were pumped into this movie. It’s interesting to watch David Spade make a guest appearance as a female character. It’s interesting to see Sandler dress up as a female character as well. It’s interesting to watch and wonder what happened here. It’s got a certain charm, I think. I’m not saying it’s good, but it’s interesting.