Eight Crazy Nights

Infobox Film
name = Eight Crazy Nights


caption =
director = Seth Kearsley
producer = Adam Sandler
Jack Giarraputo
writer = Brooks Arthur
Allen Covert
Adam Sandler
Brad Isaacs
starring = Adam Sandler
Rob Schneider
Austin Stout
Jon Lovitz
Allen Covert
distributor = Columbia Pictures
Happy Madison Productions
released = 27 November 2002 (USA)
runtime = 86 minutes
language = English
budget =
imdb_id = 0271263

"Adam Sandler's Eight Crazy Nights" is a 2002 animated musical comedy movie with Adam Sandler about the magic of the holidays. It was produced by Sandler's production company Happy Madison Productions and was distributed by Columbia Pictures. While the movie has the look and feel of a Christmas special, it contains a great many scatological jokes and references to adult topics.

Plot

Set in the fictional small town of Dukesberry in December 2001, the movie focuses on Davey Stone, a drunk misanthrope with a long criminal record. Arrested in the beginning of the movie, he is about to be sentenced to jail time when Whitey Duvall, a sixty-nine-year-old volunteer referee from Dave's former basketball league comes forward at his trial. The judge, at Whitey's suggestion, sentences Davey to be a referee-in-training for the Youth Basketball League under Whitey as his community service. But the judge warns him for the last time, if he breaks one more law, he will be sentenced to ten years in prison.The next day, Davey referees his first game, which proves itself disastrous: Davey mocks an obese child, sends Whitey into a seizure (frequently seen throughout the movie), and unfairly ends the game. For the sake of relaxation, Whitey takes Davey to his favorite place: the mall. There they meet Jennifer Friedman, a childhood friend of Davey's, and her son, Benjamin. As before, Davey finds himself attracted to Jennifer, but Whitey reminds him that he lost his chance with her 20 years ago.

After an increasingly chaotic relationship between both Davey and Whitey, things seemingly come to an end when Davey's trailer is destroyed by arson, after he and Benjamin bet against two people at a local rec center, and winning the bet by beating the people in basketball. The only thing he rescues from his burning trailer is a Hanukkah card from his parents. Whitey opens his home to Davey, who grudgingly accepts their invitation. The Duvall household has many complex rules (referred to by Whitey as technical fouls), which prove themselves extremely irritating. However, he seemingly overcomes them, and begins to turn his life around.

The morning of Dukesberry's "All-Star Banquet" dawns with Whitey's hopes to win the coveted "Dukesberry Patch", which is seemingly impossible. The morning goes terribly bad, as Whitey reveals Davey's difficult past: his parents, on his way to an important basketball game, were hit by a truck which had fallen prey to black ice. The experience made Davey the delinquent that everyone has come to know. To Whitey's shock and horror, Davey enters a terrible rage, and stalks away, infuriated. That night, in a drunken stupor, Davey breaks into the mall, to yell at Jennifer (who is obviously not there). Once he has entered, the logos and products of various stores come to life, begging him to let his bottled up grief and pain out. He refuses, until they open the Hanukkah card from his parents. In the card, the parents sing to him, telling him to never change and that they love their "12 year-old boy." After finally letting out his pain, the police arrive, but Davey manages to escape, planning to relocate to New York City. En route to New York, while passing the "All-Star Banquet", the bus is forced to stop: a single thumbtack had popped all eight of the back tires (a hint at the miracle of Hanukkah). Davey realizes what he must do: he watches from outside the Banquet Hall to apologize to Whitey, only to see that the "All-Star Patch" has been given to someone else, and that Whitey (who was crushed) has left. Davey, realizing something must be done, enters, and speaks to the townspeople, convincing them that Whitey truly deserved the award.

After leaving the Banquet, Whitey goes to the deserted Mall to pray; he has decided that he will move to Florida, where he knows that, in such a large environment, it would be okay to go unnoticed. Just then, Davey appears with the entire town. Apologizing, they offer not only the 35th, but all patches to Whitey. Everything has worked out; Davey and Jennifer are together, and Whitey got his patch.

Characters

Davey Stone (Adam Sandler) - Delinquent Jewish man who used to be friendly, but became a grouch and a loner when his parents died in a car accident when he was 12. He's surprisingly Athletically inclined cosidering he's spent 20 years drinking away his feelings. The story is centered on Davey's life.

Whitey Duvall (Adam Sandler) - A tiny, illiterate, balding basketball referee with a heart of gold. He has an odd foot condition (Men's 11 right foot, children's 9 left foot), as well as a very high pitched voice. He hopes to win the "Dukesberry All-Star Patch". He works hard throughout the movie to refocus Davey's life. Jennifer Friedman (Jackie Sandler, but credited as Jackie Titone) - Former girlfriend and teammate of Davey and mother of Benjamin Friedman. She realizes there is still good in Davey, but holds a negative opinion of him because of his refusal to "let out" his grief.

Benjamin Friedman (Austin Stout) - Son of Jennifer and youth basketball player. He takes a liking to Davey, as does Davey to him.

Eleanore Duvall (Adam Sandler) - Fraternal twin sister of Whitey, who wears many wigs. It is a recurring gag that one of her wigs was thieved from her long ago, much to her dismay. She and Whitey live together, and she has not left the house in a very long time.

Songs

# Davey's Song - Davey
# At the Mall - Whitey
# Patch Song - Whitey
# Long Ago - Davey, Jennifer, Whitey, and Company
# Technical Foul - Davey, Whitey, and Eleanore
# Intervention Song - Davey and Mall Logos
# Bum Biddy - Davey, Jennifer, Benjamin, Mr. Chan, and Company
# The Chanukah Song, Part 3 - Sandler feat. Schneider and the Drei-Dels

Product placement

The film includes a scene where numerous mascots of popular businesses come to life and attempt to force Davey to confront his past. These characters include the Foot Locker guy, Miss See's of See's Candies, the Panda Express panda, and a gigantic bottle labeled GNC.

Ads

*GNC
*Lysol
*7 Eleven
*Foot Locker
*Radio Shack
*Dunkin' Donuts
*See's Candies
*Panda Express
*KB Toys
*Pepsi
*Spencer's Gifts
*Victoria's Secret

Trivia

*Some of the places in the movie a based upon actual places in Manchester, New Hampshire, where Adam Sandler spent most of his childhood. For example, the youth center is based upon the JFK arena.
*Portions of the film bear striking resemblance to other pieces of Sandler's comedy work. For example, the film's name comes from the opening to his "The Chanukah Song" and Whitey is very similar to the character Whitey from the track of the same name on Stan and Judy's Kid.
*Cole and Dylan Sprouse from Disney's The Suite Life of Zack and Cody play the KB Toys soldiers in the mall scene. The twins are quite fond of Adam Sandler, Sandler being their favourite actor, and they even starred alongside him in their breakthrough film, Big Daddy. They also are featured on a remix to The Chanukah Song. Cole Sprouse appeared in The Chanukah Song Part 2 and Dylan Sprouse appeared in Part 3 with Rob Schneider and Adam Sandler.

*Davey's parents are voiced by Adam Sandler's parents, Stanley and Judy Sandler. This was Stanley's first and last film appearance, he died in 2003 and his memory was dedicated in another Adam Sandler film, "50 First Dates".

*Originally in the basketball court scene when Davey coaches the kids opponents are violent prisoners and in a cartoonish scene one of them yanks off a kid's head and plays it like a basketball before reattaching it when they loose they sent in a prionser named Hammer in sent in Davey knocks him out with a basketball and puts his hands down his pants, this was revealed in an animated storyboard scene on the dvd it was cut for being too violent and cartoonish.

Rating

Rated PG-13 by the MPAA for frequent crude and sexual humor, drinking and brief drug references.

Reception

The film was not well received by most critics, garnering only 13% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes [http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/adam_sandlers_eight_crazy_nights/] . It came in at fifth place on its opening weekend among U.S. Box Office, making only $14 million since its Wednesday launch. Despite a budget of $34 million, it only grossed a total of $23.6 million in North America and a total of only $23.8 million worldwide before leaving theaters after nine weeks.

In spite of the negative criticism, Adam Sandler won a Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Award for Best Voice in an Animated Movie in 2003.

See also

* List of animated feature-length films

External links

* [http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/eightcrazynights/ Official site]
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